He was born in 1911 and came to Cumnor when his father was
demobilised after the First World War, having served in the Flying Corps. Fred
was 7 years old when they came to live in Hurst Lane in the red brick terrace
cottages, and his father found employment in the Chawley Brick Company.
There were 3 or 4 line kilns at Chawley. He referred to a lime kiln as a stone
pit. It was circular or horse-shoe shaped, built of stone with a wicket or stone
arched door on one side and ventilation shafts at the bottom. The coral rag or
oolitic lime stone was put alternately with coke in 18 inch layers, to the top
of the kiln, a wood fire having previously been laid underneath.
The top was sealed with stone rubble and earth. The wicket was sealed with
stones and then plastered over with mud. The fire was lit and the whole would
burn for 4 or 5 days. When it was cooled the pieces of lime were removed. This
was hot lime which, if put in a bucket with water, made it possible to boil a
kettle on it by the chemical action. It then, when the water was poured off, was
fine hydrated or slaked lime dust as we know it today for use in plaster and
liming clay soils to improve the fertility of the lands. Fred said It was
possible for gardeners to make lime in their own gardens in this way, as some
used to.
His father made sand stock or hand-made bricks in wooden frames or moulds. He
would use a striker and plinth. The striker levelled the clay in the mould and
the plinth was used to move the bricks when wet. There was a machine to make the
ridge tiles and field drain pipes, which were baked in the small kiln near the
road.
When the weather was wet there would be no work f'or men moulding bricks etc. as
they were dried out of doors under hacks and took three weeks to dry.
One of the kilns was divided into 2 halves by a wall with gaps in it for the hot
air to circulate. It was stoked from the top with coal, where there were 3 fine
holes with iron lids. These had handles of a rod and ring type. They had to be
stoked every half-hour day and night while the kiln was firing. If the weather
changed overnight the men in Hurst Lane were awoken by the night stoker knocking
on their door. Sometimes it was only a change of wind, but one night there were
thunder and lightning and torrential rain, which was not so good. They were paid
3s an hour for a night call-out., which was a measure of compensation for a
disturbed night's sleep.One night the hooter sounded for fire and they arose to
see the buildings going up in flames. Fred rushed to rescue his tools in the
carpenter's shop before they were lost.
Workers started the day at 7 am, with a half-hour break for breakfast and an
hour break for lunch, finishing the day at 5 pm. If they lived near in Chawley
they went home for these breaks, otherwise they brought their packed lunch and
bottle of cold tea.
There were rises and falls in the brick trade, according to the economic
situation. At one time there were a million bricks stacked up unsold in the
yard. These were used up by building cottages for Lord Abingdon's estate workers
or the Brick Company workers.
The clay was dug out in winter when it was wet and cut like butter. Frost broke
it up ~ then it was ground and mixed with sand and water. Chawley bricks had
been hard-wearing blue bricks when well baked but as the clay deteriorated over
the years there was sand in it which made a softer bricks not so hard-wearing as
the original.
Lord Abingdon provided beef from Butterfield's for the men's Christmas dinner.
They each received a joint aocording to the position they held and years
service.
The Company closed down in the late 1930s when the clay below the Hurst ran out.
Fred Messenger took employment driving lorries for Werrell's. He then found
himself fetching loads of bricks from the London Brick Company. There, he said,
new heavy machines and methods had undercut the price of the hand-made Chawley
bricks.
Researched by Iris Wastie, January, 1985