MSc in Historic Conservation – Brick Day 2026

On a misty March morning, students on the MSc Historic Conservation headed into the Chiltern
Hills for a day of practical activities devoted to the humble brick. With their rich clay deposits and dense woodlands producing a ready supply of firing timber, the Chilterns once supported dozens of small brickworks. HG Matthews of Bellingdon, near Chesham, is the only one of these still operating, still producing the area’s distinctive reddish-brown handmade bricks after more than a hundred years. Charlie, our guide for the morning, took us through the production process from beginning to end.

Clay from Matthews’ own quarry is left out over the winter to be broken up by frost action...

It is then put through a pug mill to break up the remaining lumps,
before being mixed with sand and other additives in preparation for moulding

The clay mixture is thrown into moulds, 
which are emptied out to produce unfired mud bricks

The bricks are then dried, first at air temperature
and then in ovens

The dried bricks are stacked in kilns (left) and gradually fired at temperatures reaching over 1000°C -
this partially vitrifies the mineral content, turning soft clay into hardened ceramic

Some bricks are given an enamel coating and re-fired,
producing a variety of coloured glazes

Next stop: the Chiltern Open Air Museum in Chalfont St Giles. During its 50-year history, COAM has rescued some 37 vernacular buildings from across the region, carefully dismantling structures otherwise facing demolition and carefully reconstructing them on the Chalfont site using traditional craft methods. Colin, the mason in charge of the museum’s running repair programme, showed us round, while Gordon, retired builder and current volunteer, helped us try our hand at moulding our own bricks.

Haddenham Cottage, a 19th century house built from witchert -
a distinctive method of earth construction using decayed limestone, clay
and straw, found only in a handful of villages in the Vale of Aylesbury

This 1820s toll house stood alongside the A40 in High Wycombe
until being destroyed in a lorry collision in 1972. Problems with how it was
rebuilt at COAM during the 1980s means that it is now undergoing
a further programme of reconstruction

Making bricks - which it turns out is more difficult than the guys 
at Matthews make it look...

Chiltern brick in its natural environment at the Allnut and Baker Almshouses 
in Goring Heath

Thanks to David Garrard for the report and photos - for more information about the MSc Historic Conservation, take a look here.