Issue 46 April 25 web - Flipbook - Page 47
each comprising six or seven brick colours to match the
exterior pre-war walls as part of the Power Station’s
prestigious restoration and development. These were
made by a team of five master brickmakers!
company invested in a ‘tumbling machine’ to bulk manufacture bricks with the distressed and irregular look of
genuine reclaimed bricks.
The company was also one of the first brick manufacturers
to invest in a ‘robot’ handling system for its wire-cut machine-made range and, more recently, in a new £60k
state-of-the-art robot, further expanding its production
capacity of machine-made bricks.
The Home of Master Brickmakers
Sometimes described as a ‘working industrial museum’,
Northcot has deliberately retained many traditional brickmaking techniques to achieve a natural richness of tone
and character that most modern brickworks cannot
reproduce.
Award-winning heritage projects
Northcot’s passion for creating sympathetic bespoke brick
blends for the restoration of Britain’s historic architecture
has resulted in several award-winning projects.
For instance, the old 1919 ‘Pan Mill’ purchased secondhand by Captain Spencer-Churchill in 1926, is still in
operation as part of the clay processing for handmade production. It is believed to be the oldest working example
in Europe.
The company’s Master Brickmakers can match the
colours, shapes, sizes, and textures of many old brick types
through a combination of age-old hand throwing, traditional kiln firing and highly sophisticated weathering
techniques.
The Hoffman kiln, also installed when the factory was
built, allows for more organic variation in the appearance
of the bricks than modern, very closely controlled kilns
can produce. In 1932, records show this was valued at
£3,952 and 15 shillings.
These finely honed skills were crucial to restoring
Shrewsbury’s Flaxmill Maltings (Feilden Clegg Bradley
Studios), one of the most significant buildings of the Industrial Revolution and the Supreme Winner of the 2023
Brick Awards.
Northcot’s dedicated team of highly skilled master
brickmakers continue to use bench mould techniques,
which have hardly changed over the centuries, whereby
the processed clay is thrown into individual sanded
wooden moulds to make handmade bricks in a wide
variety of bespoke and special shapes.
Northcot made 90,000 bricks in three different bespoke
blends with matching specials to complement the naturally aged originals. The oversized ‘Great Bricks’, onethird larger than standard bricks, required exceptional
skill from Northcot’s hand throwers.
Over the years, Northcot has refined and extended its
range and production processes. In the 1990s, the
Below, Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings. Photo credit David Jerred Miles
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Conservation & Heritage Journal
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