Whau Brickworks

Whau Brickworks The Whau Brickworks is the collective name used by researchers to refer to the 19th Century Pollen Brickworks and Wright Pottery site located on Whau Creek in West Auckland. <googlemap lat="-36.862386" lon="174.658756" zoom="14"> -36.847385, 174.765735, Auckland, New Zealand -36.841163, 174.651783, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland 0610, New Zealand -36.866918, 174.659872, approximation of site location </googlemap>

History

The brickworks is located on the Whau Peninsula which in prehistoric times was an important resource for the Maori providing them with fish, wildfowl and rich agricultural soil. There are five prehistoric Maori sites plus an additional shell midden known archaeologically on the west side of the peninsula.

Taking advantage of the rich Pleistocene clay, Dr. Daniel Pollen settled himself on the peninsula in the 1850s, building his home at the end of Rosebank Road and his brick and tile works a little further down the roa. Eventually the area along the Whau inlet was the home to some 12 brick and tile manufacturers. By 1863, Dr. Pollen's enterprise was running and at this time he employed James Wright, an experienced Staffordshire potter, in order to begin producing local wares to compete with British imports. However, with the death of Wright in 1887, the first attempt at a native New Zealand fine-ware industry came to an end.

Once the brickyards were torn down, the land was either turned back into pasture land or developed into market gardens, leaving very few surface remains. In 1965, with the help of the son of one of the original worker's sons, Jack Diamond managed to relocate the site of the Pollen brickworks.

In 1985, new research by the Reynolds and Diamond pointed to the presence of not only a brickworks, but also a pottery manufacturing enterprise headed up by Wright. In 1985, James Hardy Ltd., the company owning the land, wanted to fill an area of the site to use as a parking lot and were required to conduct a study to check if there were archaeological remains located in the area.

Excavations

1985/1986 Preliminary survey work along the shore in 1985 produced tapered arch- bricks, skewback bricks, glazed surface bricks, unglazed pottery, telegraph insulators, kiln furniture, all of which point to a brick-making industry. The work on the parking lot at this point was halted and limited scope preliminary study meant to employ two people for one week started. In January 1986, seven trenches were dug and tested. By February 1986, the excavated part of the site had been drawn and the un-excavated part had been probed. At this time a magnetometer test was also performed which didn't yield evidence for large features.

Finds

Trench 1, Feature 1 This feature consisted of a dump of bricks and pottery which was likely connected to pottery making and not brick making. This assignment is based on proportion of glazed and unglazed bricks, mortar attachments, lots of pottery, one tapered arch-brick and temperature ring.

Trench 2, Feature 1 Located at the edge of quarried area, this feature contained an iron blade (tip of ploughshare) on the clay base, a couple of bricks, and a section of saggar. This trench was enlarged in order to gain more information. This area also appears to be a potter’s area and was not meant for brickmaking. Other finds include more iron blades on clay base, pottery, bricks on interface between the layers, and bottle glass throughout the topsoil.