Free historic Best bricks on offer to islanders
ISLANDERS will have the opportunity to own a little bit of Guernsey history when a batch of unfired Best bricks become available on Saturday.
The bricks can be collected from 10am until noon from Guernsey Water’s Brickfield House site in St Andrew’s.
The Best bricks were found last month when Guernsey Water emptied the historic brick kiln – a protected monument – on the site on Route de St Andre.
They were removed to allow surveyors to complete a structural survey report, which will provide a basis to develop a conservation plan to protect the kiln and maintain it for future generations.
Guernsey Water capital delivery manager Mark Walker said it was quite special to have a kiln at their headquarters.
‘The only other intact kilns in Guernsey stand at Oatlands,’ he said
‘Although we will be keeping 1,000 bricks for conservation and local heritage purposes, we thought this was a great opportunity to share some local interest with islanders.’
There will be 500 bricks on offer for islanders to pick up.
The Brickfield kiln was constructed in 1927 and replaced an earlier bottle kiln, which was on the site owned by
the Best family.
It was in production for 20 years before being filled with bricks for the last time in 1947.
Guernsey Water said donations would be welcome and the proceeds will be given to La Societe Guernesiaise and the National Trust of Guernsey.
The utility stated that the bricks were unfired and therefore fairly fragile, making them unsuitable for any building purposes.
