Internet Archaeol 1 Peacey Rainford

Rainford

Figure 78: Kilns at (a) Winstanley's and (b) Pasture Lane Bridge, Rainford (Davey et al 1982, 104 &115).

Figure 79: Two views of Hill Top pipe works Rainford (Davey et al 1982, 119).

Figure 80: (a) Hill Top, Rainford (St Helens Reporter November 9, 1938) and (b) Fordham's Pontefract factory (Pontefract Museum).

From Rainford on Merseyside there are a number of photographs showing kilns built into the outer walls of workshop buildings. Four of these have been published in the BAR series of clay tobacco pipe studies.

The first of these photographs, of Winstanley's pipe shop, (Davey et al 1982, 104) shows two brick bottle kilns built into the end wall of a single storey workshop. The kiln in the foreground is 68 courses high finished off with a single layer of bricks on end. This equates to an overall height of c. 6.32 metres (21 feet). Although the angle in the photograph makes an accurate calculation of the height above roof crest difficult, 2.65 metres (8 feet 9 inches) cannot be far out. On the edge of the photograph there appears to be a taller building which may have some bearing upon this. There is a single iron band round the kiln thirteen courses above the top of the workshop wall, on the lower part of the tapering section. The site has a documented history of clay pipe production from 1841. The kiln was demolished in 1936 (ibid, 102). (Figure 78a)

Although the kiln at Pasture Lane Bridge, Rainford, (ibid, 115) appears to be of similar dimensions, the photograph does not show enough brickwork detail to confirm this. The upper conical section protrudes from a single storey lean to building. The top of the chimney is protected from rainfall by a metal plate raised above on three or four struts. A single iron band is visible on the conical chimney (Figure 78b).

The final three Rainford photographs show the kiln at Hill Top (ibid, 119) which is in a similar position and of similar dimensions to the Winstanley kiln. In the first, of the cart laden with boxes of pipes, the old lady is Maria Fishwick who died in 1907 (Figure 79a). The second is from a newspaper article of 1923 (Figure 79b). The kiln is built of brick onto the corner of a single storey workshop. There is a single iron band about two feet above the ground and two more about one foot apart between the roof apex and the eaves. About one third of the base circumference is visible with no fire mouth. A lean-to structure, built against the kiln away from the workshop, may house the stoking area. In the first photographs there is a pile of cylindrical saggars in the open against the wall of this structure. A third photograph from the newspaper report of the demise of James Whalley in October 1938 shows the workforce in front of the pipe works (Figure 80). This picture, taken from a different angle, shows two kilns in the background. An undated plan, drawn sometime after 1867 (The two cottages adjoining the pipe shop are still standing bearing a plaque with this date), shows the property with the 'furnace house' built against the end gable of the 'old pipe shop'. The pipe shop is recorded in the Tithe Schedule of 1840. Pipes were still being made on the site up to 1956. The site was cleared in 1959 to make way for warehouses (Davey et al 1982, 118).