Brick Making in Kiln Lane

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The Brick Makers of ‘Lacey's Green’ Taken from Tarmac and Beyond by Dennis Claydon

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. From this period documents and maps first make reference to ‘Lacies Green’, ‘Leasey Green’ and ‘Lacey’s Green’. It is reasonable to assume therefore that the first foundations of the community were being laid at this time.

From the fourteenth century onwards, brick and tile making became an established industry in various parts of the Chilterns. At a far later date, as the name Kiln Lane indicates, brick making came to Lacey Green. Evidence suggests it was possibly in operation for well over a century. Several generations of the Floyd family were engaged as proprietors.

One of the earliest references is to 'John Floyd, Brickmaker’, who was buried in Princes Risborough on Ist February 1703, and Hampden Estate Records mention ‘Lacey Green Kiln’ in the year 1752.

A Joseph Floyd, described as a ‘Brickmaker, of Lacey’s Green’, made his Will on the 11th May 1745. He bequeathed to his wife, Ellinor, property in Loosley Row and Princes Risborough. Sadly, however, he makes no reference to the Brick Kiln. Joseph was buried in Princes Risborough on the 9th December 1756. Ellinor also died before she could take upon herself the execution of the Will. On 8th June 1758, Administration was granted to son, William.

added note (click Joseph & Elinor Floyd and click William Floyd born 1718 for their respective family stories)

An Indenture, dated 2nd October 1761, refers to ‘William Floyd of Lacey’s Green, Brickmaker’. He is described as the ‘son of and also named in the Will and Testament of Joseph Floyd, late of the same place, Brickmaker’.

William Floyd, distinguished as ‘the Elder’, made his Will on the 9th May 1801 and died shortly afterwards. He bequeathed property in Speen to his daughter, Mary Stone. His son, also named William, was to receive a legacy of ‘sixty pounds of lawful money of Great Britain’. Provision is made for his three grandchildren, Joseph, Elizabeth and John, the children of his deceased son, John, who had died in 1800, at the age of 51 years, leaving his Widow with three small children, all of whom were under the age of five.

added note. (click John Floyd & Sarah nee Janes for their family story)

William, Senior, then makes specific reference to the Brick Kiln. William, Junior, and son-in-law Francis Stone are to receive property and land in Loosley Row and Princes Risborough. Additional land includes, ‘my garden plot near or adjoining to the Brick Kiln at Lacey’s Green’, also, ‘a small Close or Paddock with the Trees thereon Growing lying near to the said Kiln’.

William, Junior, was buried in Princes Risborough on 31st October 1821. A Widower, the entry in the Princes Risborough Parish Registers describes him as a ‘Kiln Man of Lacey’s Green, aged 76 years’.

added note. (click William & Eliza Floyd for William Jnr's life story)

The Hampden Estate Account Books of the Earl of Buckinghamshire refer to a William Floyd supplying bricks and lime to the value of 14s.9d in 1764 for repairs at Green Hailey. Another entry for July 1772 records William Floyd supplying seven hundred and fifty bricks and twenty bushels of lime. These goods, to the value of £1.1s.10d, were for work at a farm in Hampden Row. This bill, like so many more in the Estate Accounts, was not paid until eight months later. This appears to be a general trend; some bills not being settled until a year later. It seems likely this William Floyd was probably the same William referred to above as ‘the Elder’. One wonders if the long wait for the settlement of the account would have had a serious effect on the financial side of the business.

The Posse Comitatus. In February 1798 Britain had been at war with France for five years. Instructions were issued by the authorities to make returns of all able-bodied males, between fifteen and sixty years. The returns did not include those already serving in a military capacity, but those who could be called upon in case of ‘invasion or any other attempt of the enemy upon our coasts’. The whole project took eighteen days from conception to completion. The speed of the Operation was no mean feat, even by modern standards.

Complete returns for the Posse Comitatus survive for no county in England or Wales other than Buckinghamshire. The returns for Princes Risborough record a total of three hundred and fifty one men, of these, one hundred and fifty three were from the Upper Hamlets, (i.e. Lacey Green, Loosley Row, Speen).

Amongst those recorded in the Upper Hamlets are John Floyd, William Floyd, Senior, and William Floyd, Junior. The returns also record the occupations of those listed therein. The Floyd’s, however, are recorded merely as ‘Labourers’. Perhaps the art of brick making did not warrant a special category.

The main site of the Kiln is associated with ‘Malmsmead’, formerly Kiln Farm. The four acres of land then attached to the property, alongside Kiln Lane, constituted the brickwork fields. An Estate map of Lord George Henry Cavendish, dated 1818, indicates that the Kiln once covered a far larger area, extending a considerable distance to the south-east of this site.

A map in the County Record Office in Aylesbury, surveyed in 1810, but not published until 1820/21, shows the site connected with ‘Malmsmead’. In the early years of the twentieth century, the foundations of a building were discovered in the nearby garden of ‘Kiln Cottages’, now ‘Kiln Barn’. These were assumed to have had some connection with the Kiln. Clearly recorded on the above map are a group of buildings associated with the Kiln, in what is now the garden of ‘Highwood’.

Evidence supporting the existence of former buildings was confirmed in the spring of 1999. During building Operations on the site, a seam of bricks, tile rubble and a copingstone were unearthed at a depth of about one metre, along the bank forming Grim’s Ditch. The bricks were glazed, either on their ends, or along one edge. It is open to conjecture whether this was the site of the Kiln, or merely rubbish dumped after brick making operations ceased.

Glazed bricks are unusual but not unheard of in Buckinghamshire and were occasionally used for decorative effect on buildings. Perhaps the Lacey Green Kiln specialized in this type of brick.

This also leads to speculation that Grim’s Ditch may have suffered mutilation during the time of brick making here. Up to some thirty years ago, in pastureland immediately south-west of ‘Highwood’, there were two shallow depressions, suggesting clay had been dug at this spot. These supposed ‘pits’ would again have been made in the line of Grim’s Ditch.

It is possible this was the site of the Kiln only in its latter days of operation. In the garden of ‘Pondside’, to the north of the Lane, fragments of brick have also been found. These, too, revealed signs of glazing. Could this indicate that there were several ‘Kiln’ sites, over the course of time, within Kiln Lane?

The evidence of a number of possible large pits, located by the geophysical survey on the St. John's School site, is also interesting. This would suggest brick making might once have been in Operation some distance to the south-east of Kiln Lane.

A survey of the Parish of Princes Risborough was undertaken in 1808, 1809 and 1810. The purpose was to make an assessment regarding the re-valuation of property for Land Tax purposes. Due to some political quirk, however, the findings were never implemented. Some entries under the heading, ‘Princes Risborough Uphill District’ are interesting. William Floyd had just over three acres of land, with a house, garden and orchard, valued at £6.8s.0d. Widow Floyd, presumably Sarah, the wife of John, held a little over four acres in her own right. This included a house, garden, Smith's shop and old inclosures. Total values of these were £7.1s.0d.

Widow Floyd also has an interest in two other parcels of land. Over sixty acres of land, including a ‘homestall’ and old inclosure, are entered under her name, as occupier. The proprietor of this property is listed as ‘Matthews Esq’. The brick kiln and yard, an area of just over two roods, are valued at £2.0s.0d. The proprietor of the Kiln is John Grubb Esq., Lord of the Manor. Although most of the Floyd property was situated in other parts of the village, this is proof they retained a stake in the Kiln.

Another entry regarding Stephen Clark*, occupier and proprietor of property in Turnip End, is noteworthy. Additionally, located ‘near Lacey Green Brick Kiln’, he has a house and garden situated in an area of nineteen perches, valued at £3.0s.0d.

Mrs Floyd is recorded as paying the rates on a house, land and Kiln in the years 1814 and 1815. A further entry states ‘Thomas Dell took William Floyd’s Kiln Farm from late Buckle Hawes’.

The Land Tax Returns for the ‘Upper Hamlets’, dated 1820, list John Grubb as the proprietor of the Kiln. The occupiers, who pay the assessment, are recorded as ‘late Floyd Executors’.

Discussions were taking place at this time, regarding the Enclosure of the Parish of Princes Risborough. Apart for an obvious death in the family, this may have been a very difficult time for the Floyd’s.

From 1801 a Census took place in the Princes Risborough area. This was prior to the nation-wide general registration of 1841, when additional information, such as all names in the household, ages and relationships were required. These early Censuses record only the name of the householder, the number of males and females, ages and occupations of those residing within a household.

In the 1821 Census the household of Joseph Floyd is recorded. This states that two families were living in one household. Two males over the age of twenty years are resident, one engaged in agriculture, the other following a trade. The ages and number of males/females recorded, suggest Joseph's Mother and his younger brother may have been living with him and his family. Other sources record J oseph’s occupations as a kilnman, yeoman and shopkeeper. This could indicate the beginning of a decline in the brick making industry for the Floyd’s.

The household of Joseph Floyd appears again in the 1831 Census, this time as one family in one house. Joseph is described as a Shopkeeper. Another entry from the same Census records two households, those of Daniel Ridgeley and Samuel Lacey, at the Kiln. Amongst the two families are five males over the age of twenty, all of whom are engaged as agriculture labourers. This may imply either new occupiers at the Kiln, or the return of the land to agricultural use.

The discovery, on the brick kiln site, of George III pennies (1760-1820) and a clay pipe, certainly denotes activity of some nature, during the reign of that Monarch.

* Possibly Clinch. In the transcribed copies of the re-valuation of property for Land Tax purposes, quoted above, Stephen Clark is clearly recorded. However, in the Enclosure Awards, fifteen years later, the corresponding property at Turnip End is awarded to Stephen Clinch, but there is no reference to a house in Kiln Lane.