Smeed Dean Brick Works

On Friday I went to visit the Smeed Dean Brick Works in Sittingbourne, Kent. It is the last remaining brick works in Kent and the only factory in the UK which produces the original Yellow London Stock Brick, which has a distinctive pale yellow colour with various irregularities created during the firing process.

The factory was established in 1845 by Smeed and Dean and in the 1880's was the largest in Britain, producing 8 million London stocks annually.  At the time, it was a huge employer in the area – building cottages and a church for the workers near to the factory. Today the factory is run by the large company Wienerberger and it is operated by a team of 35 employees who still live locally, the factory produces 16-17 million bricks every year.

Each brick takes approximately 6 days to produce. Please find below some images from my visit.