The Forum Park

Explorer Tom Bursledon Brickworks in Swanwick proves that a brick is much more interesting before somebody hides it in a wall. Step into the old factory and there are clay pits, presses, kilns and steam machinery to think about; I may never insult a plain red brick again, at least while it can hear me. The Ashby family founded the works in 1897, using local clay and useful rail and river links. Later expansion lifted production to millions of bricks a year. The factory closed in 1974, but its Victorian buildings and original machinery survived, giving today's museum a rare complete route through brickmaking from raw clay to firing. This was hard, dusty work, and the site makes room for the people who dug, carried, shaped and burned the material that built homes across the region. On ordinary museum days, visitors can explore the displays in the old industrial rooms. Special steam days bring the engines back into action, so check the Brickworks Museum calendar if you want to see and hear them moving. The museum is on Swanwick Lane and runs a seasonal public programme; the old floors and outside ground can be uneven. Volunteers have restored and cared for the site, and their work is part of why so much original machinery remains visible. I suspect the first brick ever made here told the others it was destined for a palace, then discovered it was going to be a garden wall. Pure gossip from me, naturally. The real story is big enough: a simple building material made by skilled hands and serious machines. Visit before the next time you say, 'It's just a brick.' It might remember.