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"By the end of its working life, there were only two kilns and three chimneys still in use,
albeit producing a still impressive 135 million bricks per year. However, it wasn’t a lack of raw
materials, lack of workforce, economic recession or strong competitor which caused the
Stewartby Brickworks to finally close but the curious properties of Oxford Clay which
made the Fletton Brick so economical to produce in the first place. The particular seam of clay
beneath the Bedfordshire countryside was high in sulphur; and it wasn’t economically viable to
equip the chimneys with the extraction plant necessary to remove these sulphurous emissions as
required by the European emission directives."
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View north of western shed (left), northern kiln (centre), centre shed (centre) and eastern shed (right). © Simon Cornwell 2009
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