Bursledon Brickworks

On the afternoon of Wednesday 6th May, the VIP club visited Bursledon Brickworks. 

To give us the maximum time to explore and experience this amazing museum, we decided to take our lunches with us. The museum staff were very accommodating, letting us eat our lunches in the cafe.

Then, with appropriate Victorian health & safety headwear (a flat cap!) we started our tour. 

We learnt all about digging out the clay for the bricks, including where the phrase 'hard graft' cones from - a Scandinavian word for the clump of clay! Also the phrase 'as happy as a sand boy', which was the easy starting job for young boys! 

This was an example of a conveyor belt used to transport the clay, and where stones were picked out to stop exploding bricks.

We had to work out which was the good brick, and which had too much clay or too much sand.

There was the huge brick making machine, which filled the room! 

We had a go at using the barrow to transport fresh bricks.....it was quite tricky! 

Then we got to smell the great big oily steam engine that drove the machinery.

We even had a go with the giant spanners! 

The tour was a fantastic sensory experience, but it was just the build up to the main event.......making our own personalised bricks, that once baked, would be part of a brick sculpture to be built later this year! 

So here's how to make a brick demonstrated by some of our VI pupils.

1. Get a lump of clay and roll in sand.

2. Then using a mould called a 'frog' throw the clay down hard, and the push and squeeze the clay so it fills every bit.

3. Remove the excess clay with a 'strike'.

4. Finally tap the opposite corners of the mould to release the soft brick.

All the children made a brick, with a little assistance and then put a design or pattern on one face. 

Now they will be fired and then used in a brick sculpture to be built later this year. We are looking forward to returning to the Brickworks to find our bricks! 

We had a brilliant afternoon at the Brickworks, the weather was miserable but we all left with very happy faces. It was a really good sensory experience for our pupils, with loads of things to smell and touch. The staff were so welcoming, and they provided a superb tour as well as the brick making experience, which all the children loved. 

THANK YOU to Bursledon Brickworks!!