Anglesey 2020: Brickworks
The Cemaes Bay Brickworks and Tramway, also known as the Afon Wygyr (after the nearby river), was opened in 1907 to supply bricks for the growing tourism industry.
The 92ft chimney stack, which sits next to the kiln structure, is suituated to the south east of the town and was connected to the harbour by a 500m, 2ft gauge, horse drawn tramway that was used to carry finished bricks to the port and bring coal in to feed the Kiln.
The kiln is a refined version of the Hoffman type, first patented in Germany in 1858, and which became known as a Manchester kiln.
The kiln has two parallel tunnels, which are connected by curved sections at each end of the kiln, and is divided into 16 chambers. Once lit, operations were continuous – new chambers being lit as earlier ones cooled.
The works had the capacity to produce 50,000 bricks a week, but closed in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World war.
I visited the site in early January 2020.
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All images © W N BISHOP