Type Museum Elevation 11 metres Phone +44 1489 576248 | Town or city Southampton Floors 2 Architectural style Victorian architecture | |
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Former names Hooper & Ashby (1897–1903)
The Bursledon Brick Co. Limited (1903–1959)
The Sussex & Dorking Brick Company (year unknown)
Redland Holdings Ltd. (1959–1974)
Bursledon Conservation Centre (2000s–2010s)
Bursledon Brickworks Industrial Museum (2007–2017)
The Brickworks Museum (2017–) Location Swanwick, Hampshire, England Owner Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust Address Coal Park Ln, Swanwick, Southampton SO31 7GW, UK Hours Closed today TuesdayClosedWednesday11AM–4PMThursday11AM–4PMFridayClosedSaturdayClosedSunday11AM–4PMMondayClosed Similar Manor Farm Country P, Explosion! Museum of Naval Fir, New Forest Reptile Centre, Solent Sky, Portsmouth City Museum | ||
Bursledon brickworks museum 2014
Bursledon Brickworks Industrial Museum, often shortened to Bursledon Brickworks is a volunteer-run brickworks museum based in the village of Swanwick, Hampshire, England. It is the last Victorian steam-driven brickworks left in the UK.
Contents
Wendy in steam at bursledon brickworks museum
Early history
The Bursledon Brick Co. Limited or (B.B.C. Ltd.) was established in Swanwick, Hampshire, England in 1897 by the combined partnership of two excommunicated Quaker families, the Ashbys and the Hoopers both from Staines, Middlesex. The Ashbys were partners in Hooper & Ashby, successful builders merchants in Southampton. Most of the original machinery was moved to the Swanwick site from Chandler's Ford thus meaning clay digging ceased at the original site. This was largely due to the last remaining clay reserve having been exhausted meaning that in order to carry on producing bricks. The Ashby family had to relocate to Swanwick where there was an abundance of clay.
A Bursledon Brickworks football team reached the final of the 1926 Hants Junior Cup, beating North Warnborough 4–1 in the semi-finals in Bursledon on 20 March.
Charity status
The Bursledon Brickworks Trust which ran from July 1997 – February 2007 was succeeded by the Bursledon Brickworks Museum Trust in November 2016.
Radio and television
Back in July 2015, BBC Radio Solent presenter Nick Girdler visited the brickworks. Here he oversaw the unveiling of a new brick sculpture, affectionately known as the Twisted Shard. The structure which took 5 months to build was designed by local brick lecturer and artist Joe Taylor from Woolston, Southampton, in partnership with Michelmersh Brick Holdings. He enlisted the help of some of his Southampton City College students to aid in the construction of the Twisted Shard. In the same year, the brickworks appeared in the last five minutes of the BBC's – VE Day: First Days of Peace documentary.
In January 2017, a five-minute segment on Bursledon Brickworks featured on Series 14: Episode 6 of the BBC One television programme Antiques Road Trip.