Foxearth & District History Society visit to Bulmer Brick & Tile - June 2024

Visit to Bulmer Brick & Tile - June 2024

Over 20 Foxearth History Society members went to Bulmer Brick & Tile Company for their June event, to hear Peter Minter and his family team explain the changes that have been made there over recent years.  Many visitors were ‘first-time’ members, and we were amazed by the scale of the operation, and the range of products now produced.

100 years ago, this was one of many brickmakers around the Stour Valley, mining the excellent London Clay found here.  But competition from mass production techniques, and the problems of World War II, led to the closure of most.  Bulmer Brickworks only survived WWII by making land drains for airfield construction,  with a skilled but elderly non-conscripted workforce.  They realised that their means of survival post-war was to focus on specialist restoration work, and their success now stems from that decision.  Standard housing bricks are no longer produced.

By now, Bulmer are the UK’s major (often the only) supplier of specialist bricks and tiles to the conservation and restoration industry, making materials for huge projects such as Hampton Court Palace (ongoing), and the St Pancras Station Hotel. In fact, a new kiln was built to accommodate that order alone.  They have 1000’s of pattern moulds in store, to simplify re-orders and supply new similar ones.  And they now make bespoke prefabricated brick arches & lintels, ready to drop in place.

Our visit started with Peter Minter showing us round how the clay is selected and filtered  to make high quality ‘Rubbing Bricks’, that can be cut, shaped and tapered for bespoke arches. The machine for preparing and processing the clay was an old monster, and the whole process at times seemed rather ‘Heath Robinson’ – but it has all obviously worked smoothly for generations, and produced millions of bricks of a standard that no other business can match.  It is very impressive to see tens of thousands of bricks in neat rows drying, indoors and out, to the precise level required to fire them in the home built kilns.  The kilns are lit about once a fortnight – the process of loading, heating, firing cooling and unloading takes about 7 days overall.

Bulmer Brick made for a fascinating visit – a genuine ‘working museum’ and unusually one that produces top-class products in high demand.  In fact, they have just been awarded £93,500 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, aimed at preserving the historic craft of brick-making for future generations and opening a better public Museum on site.  It is already well worth a visit, and could be even better in future.

Here are some websites that tell much more, with photos:-

https://bulmerbrickandtile.co.uk/

https://gestingthorpehg.co.uk/blog/f/the-bulmer-brick-tile-company-ltd

and 

https://drojkent.wordpress.com/2015/11/28/a-visit-to-the-bulmer-brickworks-sudbury-essex/

Mark Mathieson