Stewartby brickworks - now closed

Image: © M J Richardson Taken: 16 Apr 2008

After centuries of brickmaking in Bedfordshire, the last bricks were made in February 2008. Modern brickmaking at Stewartby began in 1897; by 1936 the brickworks was part of the London Brick Company, and was the largest brickworks in the world, employing 2,000 and manufacturing over 500 million bricks per year. There were 135 chimneys in use in the Marston Vale, and an old photo in the Bedford Museum shows at least 30 at Stewartby. Recently there have been far fewer, and at the end only 2 kilns and 3 chimneys were in use, producing a total of 135 million bricks a year. The 4 remaining chimneys and 2 kilns are now protected by listed status. Stewartby is closing because the sulphur dioxide emissions from the kilns breached EU and UK environmental regulations.

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