Clayfield, George

Like many Victorian country towns, Daylesford has countless buildings made from 19^th Century bricks.  Also, like many Victorian Country towns, their brick makers have become lost in time.  This is sad because these buildings are a lasting legacy to the art and skill of the brick maker.  One such maker in Daylesford was George Clayfield.  Records are sketchy at best as there are no family records in existence.  The recollections of grandson Horace George Clayfield at age 91 provide the only living linc to the family and he was 91 when he wrote down his recollections in 1979. He died in 1981

There were George (senior) and George (junior).  It is likely that George (senior) arrived in Australia at Adelaide as early as 1849.  Shipping records do not record his arrival.  He is reported to have walked overland to Melbourne, where, on the way, one of their party, John Clayfield decided to stop off.  There are still descendants of his living in Adelaide.  The third member of the party that set off from Adelaide was a Mr Tripp for whom H.G. worked briefly.  It is from this period that he recalled some of the family story.

George Clayfield 

Thanks to the Daylesford Historical Society for this photograph

The Clayfield family migrated from Cornwall, possibly around Falmouth, although Many  Clayfields came from Gloucestershire.  After walking to Melbourne from Adelaide, George decided to go off to the diggings at Daylesford some time before 1860.  George was a builder of great ability and he soon found ample work in the area.  One of his most significant is the Maryborough Town Hall. 

Photograph of Maryborough Town Hall, courtesy of "Trip Advisor"

In 1865, there were a number of brick makers in Daylesford listed in the Commercial Directories;

David Smirl,              Vincent Street North

Thomas Millar         Jamieson Street North

Thomas Blakey        East Street

Robert Archer          Raglan Street

J.H.Strack                 Victoria Street

Thomas Weatherall Victoria Street

John Hobbs              West Street

J Wells                       Top of Doctors Gully

Pietro Muschietti     Brick and Tile Makers

Jack Eade                  Albert Street

James Brown Kendall

Thomas Rogers        Old Brickyards, Top of Doctors Gully.   

 

It soon became clear that he needed to be more in control of the materials needed for his building projects and he soon built a brick works in Doctors Gully and a joinery works in Raglan Street.  This allowed him to have a more consistent supply of both timber and bricks for the many projects that he tendered for.  It also meant that he could afford a lower tender price, having greater control over his materials, where others had to either import bricks from nearby Ballarat or further afield, with consequential cost implications as transport was not cheap.

The brick works was located on the North side of what is now West Street, west of Raglan Lane.  No records exist as to the type of kiln(s) that were used, but initially, the bricks were hand made and it is likely that he used intermittent kilns, the first of which would have been Scotch Kilns.

Intermittent

As the name implies, these are used to make individual batches one at a time.  Usually these kilns are either clamps or rectangular downdraught kilns that are sealed or “scoved” and the internal temperature increased according to a specific process or timetable. After the firing process is complete, both the kiln and bricks are cooled. The kiln is left to cool sufficiently before the bricks can be removed.  Due to the relative ease and cost of construction these are the kilns types were primarily used in one-man operations with low volume output.

Hand making bricks using a wooden mould

In the English-speaking world, the term for a kiln used to make a smaller supply of bricks is known as the Scotch kiln.  It is also known as a Dutch Kiln.  It is the type of kiln most commonly used in the manufacture of bricks.   It is a roughly rectangular building, open at the top, and having wide doorways at the ends. The side walls are built of old or poorly made bricks set in clay.  There are several openings called fire-holes, or " eyes," made of fire-bricks and fire clay, opposite one another. 

Workers loading a Scotch Kiln

The dried raw bricks are arranged in the kilns so as to form flues connecting the fire-holes or eyes, and they are packed (crowded) in such a way to leave small spaces between the bricks from bottom to top and front to back and side to side through which the fire can find its way to and around every brick. A modification of the Scotch Kiln is sometimes to have openings in the floor like lattice work, through which the heat ascends from arched furnaces underneath.

George Thompson and his son outside a Scotch Kiln

After the dried bricks are loaded into the kiln, the ends or wickets are built up, and plastered over with clay. At first the fires are kept low, simply to drive off the moisture.  After about three days the steam ceases to rise and the fires are allowed to burn up briskly.  The draught is regulated by partially stopping the fire-holes with clay, and by covering the top of the kiln with old bricks, boards, or earth, so as to keep in the heat.

It takes between 48 to 60 hours for the bricks to be sufficiently fired, and they will have shrunk to the appropriate size.  The fire-holes are then completely sealed with clay and all air excluded.  The kiln is then allowed to cool gradually.

Fuel

About a half-ton of soft coal is required for burning 1000 bricks. The exact quantity depends upon the type of clay, quality of fuel, and the skill in setting the kiln.

 

Size Of Kiln

A convenient size for a Scotch kiln is about 60 feet by 11 feet internal dimensions, and 12 feet high. This will contain about 80,000 bricks. The fire-holes are 3 feet apart. These kilns are often made 12 feet wide, but 11 feet is enough to burn through properly.

Time Of Burning And Produce

A kiln takes on an average a week to burn, and, including the time required for crowding and emptying, it may be burnt about once every three weeks, or ten times in an average season. This will produce about 800,000 bricks, that is about as many as would be turned out by two moulders in full work.  The bricks in the centre of the kiln are generally well burnt. Those at the bottom are likely to be very hard, some clinkered. Those at the top are often badly burnt, soft, and unfit for exterior work.

Bricks

Clay bricks came in two basic types;

Hand-Made or Moulded

These are very costly to produce, as they are quite labour intensive.  It is only a specialist or boutique company that could or would make them today.  They are made by throwing a lump of clay into a mould and then cutting off any excess.  Sometimes machine-made bricks are treated to give them a rough or irregular appearance to imitate a hand-made brick.  These bricks are made from clay that has been mixed (pugged) with water.  This process is known as “tempering” to make the clay workable.  Too much or too little water changes the quality of the bricks. 

Machine Pressed Bricks. 

These bricks may have been produced later by George, we just don’t know.  They also came in two types;

Semi-dry plastic.  The clay is mixed with up to 12% water depending on the clay.  The mix has to be sufficiently dry to fall into a mould using its own weight.  The clay is then formed under pressure into a frogged brick.  These bricks have smooth faces and sharp edges.  Dry pressed bricks have a cork-like appearance.

Stiff plastic.  The clay for these bricks has slightly higher water content (up to 17%).  The clay is forced under pressure from an auger into a mould.  The rough brick is then put into a second mould for a final pressing.  The texture of these bricks is rougher than a semi-plastic brick.  Wet-pressed bricks are very strong bricks, with a smoother, denser surface.

Bradley and Craven Brick Press

A different machine is needed to make wire-cut bricks. The water content is higher again (up to 25%).  The clay is forced using an auger into a conical tube tapering to a die.  The resulting rectangular sausage of clay is then cut into bricks by a wire or wires. Extruded bricks are usually smooth like semi-plastic bricks but can also have a pattern or texture applied.  The holes in modern extruded bricks reduce the amount of clay used, making them cheaper, lighter and help key in the mortar bed.

Facing bricks are (firsts) bricks that are intended to be visible and are thus designed with some aesthetic aims in mind so that they are visually interesting or appealing.   Many brick makers produce facing bricks, using a variety of techniques.  As the name implies, facing bricks are specifically designed to be used as facing, for example on the exterior of a wall, where the bricks will be seen. 

These bricks may lack the tensile strength of engineering bricks, which are used for structural brickwork, although facing bricks can be used for structural applications in some cases.  Face Bricks are also wire cut, but are of higher quality, with an added surface effect on one side that’s visible when laid.  They are specifically hard-burned for use in exposed wall surfaces and are able to withstand all kinds of weather and environmental conditions.

These bricks are designed to have a neat, even appearance.  They also tend to be made from materials which are attractive, since they will comprise the actual face of a building and will be the first thing people encounter when approaching.  While facing bricks can come in classic red, it's also possible to find them in other colors.  Some bricks may have inclusions that add visual texture and facing bricks can also be stamped with motifs or designs to make them more attractive.  Facing bricks can be extruded or moulded and in some cases may be made by hand, although handmade bricks are quite expensive.  In some larger brickworks, special Draggers were employed to only handle face bricks.

Commons

These bricks are lower quality bricks, without special finishes, making them cheaper, and are used where they’re not visible.  They are also called hard bricks or building bricks.  They are mainly used for internal brickwork and have low compressive strength.   Commons are used in general work with no special attractive appearances. When these bricks are used in walls, they may require plastering or rendering. The color and surface texture of common bricks might vary greatly since no attention is paid to these aspects when they are fired.  Early brick makers and brick layers would be horrified to think that these bricks are now considered to be a feature in a lot of modern renovated buildings.

There is no evidence of George making tiles, although it is possible that he did.  Tiles require a different type of kiln to fire them.  The existence of Piero Muschietti’s works is evidence of this, although how long this operated is also unknown.

Circular Kiln of the type used to make tiles

A rectangular downdraught kiln at Gulson’s brickworks, in Goulburn around the same period, note the curved roof and chimney to draw the heat through the kiln.

Rectangular downdraught kilns, made from around 150,000 bricks, fully enclosed and connected to a fire box and chimney.  Hot gasses circulated through flues, through the walls and roof and were exhausted through the chimney.   This heat burned the bricks.  The advantage of this type of kiln was that the bricks were more evenly baked.  It was also more suitable for pottery because heat could be more easily controlled.  Their bricks were of a uniform shape, colour and size.  These types of kilns were usually built in groups, to enable consistent production through rotation.  I do not know if George had them but it seems logical to me that he would.

 Brick Colour

The naturally occurring minerals that are kiln fired to burn in their colour and strength determined the colour of clay bricks and tiles.  The composition of the raw materials as well as the firing process would cause each batch to differ.  The resultant colour variation was inherent in the process and part of the visual appeal of the bricks.  Usually those bricks contained the following ingredients:

Silica (sand) between 50% to 60% by weight

Alumina (clay) between 20% to 30% by weight

Lime between 2 to 5% by weight

Iron oxide up to 7% by weight

Magnesia – less than 1% by weight

Colour is not only determined by the colour of the clay and its chemical composition, but also:

The colour of the sand used in the moulding;

The moisture content before firing;

The fuel used to fire the kiln;

The volume of air during firing; and

The temperature in the kiln during firing.

Later in his career, George (Jnr)  moved into building in reinforced concrete, a new material at the time.  All was not smooth sailing however.  George did not adjust to this change immediately and ran into problems with the Engineer, John Monash, a strong advocate for the material.  This was the Strathallen Bridge over the Campaspe River on the Koyuga Strathallan Road.  Despite these problems, the bridge, now over 100 years old is still going strong.