9 - More Recently
by Mike Hatch
The former Manor Girls School playing field (about 8 acres) that lies to the south-west of Brickfields Country Park has now been developed for housing. Accessed from Boxalls Lane the site is known as Highfield Park, the developer was required to landscape two acres on the east side of the site, as a general recreation area for public use. This new parkland was created and has now become part of Brickfields Country Park, an increase in the area that the Friends of the Brickfields' Country Park help to manage.
The old "Water Board" site[1] south of Boxalls Lane has now finally been built on leaving just a few of the original pump buildings from the site, this means that Brickfields Country Park is now completely surrounded by housing.
Following an appeal for information in the Farnham Herald in January 2003, we were contacted by Mr. Les Graham, a Brick Carver, who was volunteering with the Rural Life Museum at Tilford. He had found in their second hand bookstall at the Museum, a sales book for an auction sale in March 1881 at the Aldershot Brick and tile Works. Mr. J. Alfred Eggar (an estate agent of Castle Street Farnham), under instruction by Mr. Fredrick Eggar (possible owner ?) offered for sale the "Surplus Stock of The Aldershot Brick and Tile Works". Listing all of the lots in the auction, the purchasers and amounts paid, the book lists nearly 600 lots totaling £109:2s, a very large sum for those days. This book and a Gazetteer of brickworks in the North Hampshire area have been passed onto us to add to our archives.
Photos of the original Auction Sale book (mouse right click on the picture to "file save as..." for off line viewing)
We have since found on the web, another auction sale document for May 1881 from a book entitled "Aldershot, a pictorial review" from the Aldershot Military Museum. This lists a sale of the "Lease, Goodwill, Plant & Machinery and 22 acres of Land", and was again offered for sale by auction by Mr. J. Alfred Eggar, with the sale to be held at the (Auction) Mart, Tokenhouse Road, London. We have been in contact with the Military Museum to obtain a copy but it appears it no longer exists, so for now we have re-created the document and it can be seen here along with a copy of the original.
| Original | Re-created |
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Subsequent researches have turned up a map of the "Aldershot Brick and tile Works" from June 1882 with the owner listed as a James Clark. We eventually got to see the map at the Hampshire Records Office but it unfortunately was not what we expected to see, turning out to be plans for a row of houses now Cavendish Mews off Grosvenor Road, then called Bank Street. These houses bordered a site (on the map) called "The Aldershot Brick and tile Works", but recently recieved information has this area as "Clarks Ground"[3], confirmed by the name of the listed owner above. Now this could leave us with a problem - two "Aldershot Brick and tile Works" in Aldershot at the same time!, and whilst this could be a possibility as members of the Kemp family were at some time involved with both sites, it has for the moment not been resolved. For the time being the online description for this map at the Hampshire Records Office has been amended to include a reference to Grosvenor Road as the map clearly detailed. The "Brick and Tile works" site that this map refers to eventually became one of the garage / workshop sites for the Aldershot Traction Company and latterly a car repair / dealership for "Vicks". There are reports suggesting a "tunnel" (see next paragraph) under Grosvenor Road between the two "Traco" sites, both of which have now become housing estates in the last 15 years.
In the above mentioned Gazetteer of brickworks there is listed a site in Grosvenor Road -
"Brickworks, near Halimot Road and off Bank Street" (later Grosvenor Road). Shown on 1873 map as an extensive Brick and tile Works with kiln and engine house. In the 1871 directory James Clark and Fred Eggar were listed as brickmakers of Bank Street. By 1878 F. Eggar was still listed but the site is now Grosvenor Road and Harry Stonard[2] was also shown as owner. Later in 1880 Broadbent & Elsley were given as brickmakers of Grosvenor Road. "The brickworks were positioned on the opposite side of the road to the claypit and a tunnel underneath the road was used to transfer the clay". "In 1912 following closure the brickworks site was occupied by the Aldershot & District Traction Company.". From the Bygone Aldershot website - "Formed around 1906 as the "Aldershot and Farnborough Motor Omnibus Co.", by 1908 a site was purchased in Halimote Road and a garage was constructed to hold four vehicles. This site remained the company headquarters and offices for many years but by 1912 the company required more funding to expand and they were reformed into the "Aldershot & District Traction Company" on 24th July 1912 after being purchased by British Automobile Traction Co. Ltd. and the New Central Omnibus Co. Ltd."
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