The Story of Red Bricks

This is a story of red bricks made in Huntingdonshire during the mid-19th century. In fact our house, built around 1855 was the foreman's house of Great Gransden's brickworks. You can see in this 1886 map our house looking very small with four little trees round it.
(The house is on top left hand corner of plot 252. )

On the map you can see that to the right of the house there is an indication of the drying bricks and the kiln shed is clearly marked. The remains of the kiln shed are stll standing.  My collage shows the crumbling back wall as it is today.

Our house is made of red bricks, shown in close up.   Those of you who follow my blips will know that I often post our pond..which was the clay pit, providing the raw material for the bricks.  Now it is home to wild ducks, visiting herons and the occasional snake!

On the left of the map in plot 254 there were many small ponds which we believe is where the bricks were washed.  Most have been filled in, leaving just one large pond which our neighbours enjoy as a feature of their garden.
Our pond which was the clay pit. 2014 flooded and today, very low level of water

I expect life was very hard for the men, women and children who lived and worked here.    Hard Times indeed! DHT2

Thank you hildasrose and chantler63 for your interesting Dickens challenge