I am doing an assignment on Hall Place, Bexley and this
has brought the Countess of Limerick's pseudo-historic repairs post-1926 to
mind.
Hall Place collection display in 2012 had a brick marked ‘IH’
claimed to be 17th century but brickmarks only date from the mid-19th
century. The brick had been salvaged from a chimneystack.
In 2014, a friend and I looked at the buildings that form
the Swanley Park works area previous New Barn Farm.
The Bungalow had been reduced from a two-storey
structure; date unknown; but in its chimneystack, we found a brick with the ‘IH’
brickmark.
Noticing some stock brick repairs in the Jacobean East Elevation,
I again investigating the ‘IH’ brick puzzle as to their source.
In the 'Brickmakers Index' there is only one Kent reference
to a company of brickmakers called IVORY AND HASELDEN who were in partnership
from approx. 1931 to 1934 when it was dissolved (See Adrian Pearce and Dave
Long’s paper ‘Chalk Mining and associated industries of Frindsbury’ published
by Kent Underground Research Group in 1987). They had moved to Hoo Brickfield
at Vicarage Road, Hoo in 1931. The details in this article include a comment
that they produce stock bricks (yellow London stocks) as well as occasionally red
bricks. While the bricks seen have a yellow face the body core colour is
pinkish red. I am now convinced this is the source for Countess Limerick’s
bricks in the 1930’s.
So how is this a Kevin Bacon moment
1) Me doing a Building Conservation assignment for York
University at the Weald and Downland Museum (December 2015)
2) Being told of an ‘IH’ brick at Hall Place in 2012.
3) Visiting Swanley Park and discovering an ‘IH’ brick
2014.
4) Reading Adrian Pearce and Dave Long’s article from
1987.
5) Ivory and Haselden’s brickfield was at Vicarage Road,
Hoo.
6) A member of my family lived in Vicarage Road, Hoo in
2010 without me realising it was local to a brickfield that was Hoo brickfield,
but had been the source of the ‘IH’ brick.
So there you have it ‘six degrees of separation’ and
serendipity and kismet playing a part in research. So, have you had similar
experiences?
