Pie Kilns : Photo 2

Image: © Rob Farrow Taken: Unknown

These "pie" kilns are long gone. I took this series of photos in about 1975 with a Black & White Polaroid camera hence the lack of quality, which has not been helped by their gradual degradation over time. These kilns were off Rushy* Lane which ran from south of Dosthill up to the hamlet of Whateley, and were situated near to where that lane crossed the railway. They were used to fire industrial ceramics such as sewerage pipes which had been made in the nearby (and also long gone) Stoneware factory. There was considerable brick and pipe industry around this site up until the mid seventies, but these kilns had not been used for many years even then. I hope that there are higher quality photographs of these remarkable little examples of industrial heritage in existence somewhere, because I know of no examples of the actual kilns themselves anywhere these days. *Rushy lane has subsequently lost its final "y" and is now known as Rush Lane. This is probably because on an early OS map the word "Rushy" was written along the route of the lane such that the "y" was round a corner. I think that on the next map this "y" was missed by the cartographer and so the lane got itself renamed. Photos 1 & 3 : Image] Image]

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