Monument record MBC43583 - post-medieval extraction for brick and tilemaking, Kiln Farm, Stewkley

A large area of post-medieval extraction for brick and tilemaking is visible on historic aerial photographs as earthworks and was mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located in a field immediately adjacent Kiln Farm, Stewkley and centred at SP 84875 25114, an extensive area extraction of around 28,200 square metres is set within blocks of former medieval ridge and furrow cultivation, of which fragments are still extant on aerial photographs taken in 1944 and 1946 in the west half of the field. This site is located immediately adjacent the 19th century brick and tile works identified as ‘Old Clay Pits’ and kilns in the SW corner of the field (HER No MBC2021) on the 1881 1st edition OS map. Aerial photographs taken in 1944 and 1946 show undulating and disturbed ground, within which are ditch sections and several possible small rectilinear building platforms bounded by ditches. The 1813 Ordnance Surveyor Drawing shows seven buildings in the northeast of this field aligned roughly WSW-ENE along with the word ‘kiln’. However, some of these ditches and platforms may, in fact, also be fragmentary remnants of the medieval ridge cultivation as they share the same WSW-ENE alignment of the surviving ridge and furrow immediately to the west. None of the buildings or features recorded on the 1813 OS Drawing in the northeast of the field appear on the 1881 1st edition OS map (1-6).