Monument record BRD 092 - Spartan Brickworks

Spartan Brickworks. closed 1910. `Brickworks' shown on OS 1905 25 inch map and 1906 6 inch map.

The works was founded by Baron Barreto, the Lord of the Manor of Brandon. The Ipswich Journal of June 1902 records that Barreto was granted a patent for “Ovens for hardening bricks made of lime and sand by the action of steam, are made in the form of an arch or tunnel of metal plates lined with brickwork, through which trucks carrying the bricks to be treated are run on rails. Steam is applied through perforated pipes.” (Patent Illustrated 2,860; Ipswich Journal 14 June 1902) A second patent is recorded that “Relates to apparatus for slaking lime, more especially in connection with the manufacture of bricks or blocks from a mixture of slaked lime. Unslaked lime and sand are introduced into the rotary drum through openings, the covers of which are then closed.” (Patent Illustrated 2,861; Ipswich Journal 21 June 1902)." In 1902 a sale of 450,000 bricks was reported in the Norfolk News on 8th March 1902. The Downham Market Gazette of 12th October 1907 reports an auction of “a plant of sand brick making machinery, the property of Baron Barreto, at the brickworks, Brandon.” The Baron's company was probably called the Steam Brick Company. By 1910 the site belonged to the Spartan Engine Company. During the war this was the Spartan Gas and Oil Engine Company and made shells (S2).