The Pits

Every town and village will have one or more of these as an important part of their history but may not realise it. Some have been simply filled in, others built upon, a few flooded intentionally and the remainder just forgotten.

These important features that pockmark our landscape are the brick pits

These areas excavated for their natural clays, if deemed suitable for moulding and hard-firing, contributed greatly to the growth of the stock of buildings from cottages to town halls and all manner of Civic projects from sewers to brick parapets, clock towers and public conveniences.

When first productive the brick fields will have been some way out of the built up areas , in many cases representing another source of income for landowners and entrepreneurs. Gradually the combination of urban growth and exhaustion of the clay deposits saw many swallowed up by housing developments.

My late father in law remembered as a young lad in the 1930's the glow of kilns and the strong and distinctive odour of sulphur from an area of East Hull where bricks were made. This information was of interest to me over half a century later when the same location was an estate of residential bungalows raising the issue of contamination.

Practical and far reaching implications of the transition from an industrial process to housing site were clear to see when former pits were used as a waste tip for the metal filings and detritus from a boiler and radiator factory in a West Hull suburb. Over time the land was deemed fit for development but such was the corrosive elements in the soil that sub site drainage pipes, in cast iron, simply rotted away. Persistent spillage of foul and surface water, undetected for many years, eventually undermined the foundations of a group of the houses. The salvage and underpinning was only just viable over demolition and clearance.

Other former excavations became valued as landfill sites and if beyond reasonable documentation and living memory these too soon became built on. If for commercial buildings with occupation over working hours only it was relatively easy to install methane alarms or adequate venting to resolve explosive and toxic issues. A housing estate in the West Midlands was found to have been built on a waste filled former brick field. The solution to the methane problem retrospectively was a network of pipes feeding a series of flare stacks which would, in the nightime hours, erupt into life giving the impression of Dante's Inferno to startled residents. The impact on demand, saleability and values was perhaps more striking to those who had purchased their dream house in a nightmarish setting.

In areas where there is less pressure for housing the brick pits have become a natural environment having been flooded and landscaped. These provide wild fowl wetlands, fishing lakes and stretches for watersports.

Whatever the fate of the brick pits over time their contribution is assured.

The often distinctive shades and hues of clay used for the local brick buildings give a unique appearance which can vary subtly in close neighouring settlements  just a few miles up the road.

A family that I came across out in the Holderness rural area towards the North Sea coast of East Yorkshire still used their own private brick pit. The boulder clay deposits are rich, heavy and almost copper in colour and make excellent building bricks. If their house or outbuildings require extending or altering the family just go out into the pit to source the raw material. This is compressed in their own moulds and dried naturally or by mechanical means to form customised and bespoke bricks.

Somehow, the excitement of having a Lego set would not, I expect, be appreciated by that family.