MADE WITH

CHARACTER.
BUILT ON TRADITION.

One of the few true hand made brickworks, Swanage has over 150 years of experience handed down throughout the generations, producing bricks with personality and integrity.

40 YEARS

OF CLAY RESERVES

We have invested in more than 40 years of clay reserves, with royalties of one pence per brick

being paid to the National Trust for future reserves.

325 MOULDS

DATING BACK 25 YEARS

If we haven’t already got a mould in our archives to suit your project, our skilled craftsmen can create a bespoke mould to your specific requirements.

75MM

73MM

68MM

65MM

63MM

50MM

20,000

BRICK BATCHES

From closing the kiln doors, firing and cooling takes 79 hours in 20,000 brick batches.

24 HOUR

HEAT RECOVERY

After each firing, we recover the kiln heat for 24 hours for the ‘green’ brick drying process. The supply of warm air through heat recovery lowers our carbon emissions.

22%

MOISTURE

IN ALL OUR CLAY

With 22% moisture in our clay, all moulds have to be made oversized to allow for 10% shrinkage in length and 5% in height.

1600 BRICKS

PRODUCED EVERYDAY

Everyday, between 1,400 & 1,800 bricks are made by each brickmaster.  With all our brickmakers and our berry machine combined we produce between 15,000 & 16,000 bricks per day.

UP

TO

GLAZED HEADERS

EXTRA SPECIAL SHAPES

A full range of both manufactured and cut and bonded special shaped bricks are available in British Standard and non-standard formats for all Swanage products including bespoke blends.  This ensures a seamless match with the main feature brick.

Grey glazed headers are a feature typically found on many traditional houses in the Wealden counties of Kent and East & West Sussex. Used as a feature, normally with plain red stock or handmade bricks, the glazed headers are either used in a variety of bonding patterns such as English & Flemish bonds or as a feature to create a particular pattern often in a diamond formation, such as on the dormitory buildings at Shiplake College, Henley-on-Thames.

BESPOKE BLENDS

Swanage’s true expertise lies in its ability to create purpose-made blends of bricks.

FIRED EARTH

The firing and cooling process takes approximately 3 days. Prior to firing, up to one pint of water is taken through evaporation from each brick during the drying process.

BRICK SIZES

Imperial sized bricks, often required to match up with existing Victorian brickwork, are ideal for refurbishments and restoration.

UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS

All of our brickmakers learn their craft from skills handed down from previous generations. Once the craft is perfected, it’s our people who give each brick a sense of difference.

 

AT THE HEART OF EACH BRICK

Close to the Jurassic Coast, Swanage shares a rich, varied geology and has had extensive quarrying from before Victorian times. Today, our clay is still dug from our own Wealden Clay beds on the Isle of Purbeck at our brickworks.