bricks from the - Department of Architecture

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HELP WANTED AT BEAMISH MUSEUM
Mr Roy Beech, the Industrial Cataloguer at the Beamish Museum has asked
for help in dating a nineteenth-century brick colliery ventilating
furnace cupola at the closed East Hetton Colliery near Kelloe, Co.
Durham.
There is strang evidence that the upcast shaft was sunk in the
mid-18]Os. So far there is no contradictory evidence to show that
brickwork in the shaft and the cupola are not of similar date.
Can any member give information (or a lead) which would enable
dating the bricks of the cupola?
The bricks are of fireclay. They are brownish cream with a coarse
grog and have an unusual face dimension of 15~ by 4 inches. They WBre
used in the cupola with a lime/ash mortar to give 'on average' ] feet
in height for every 8 courses.
A feature of the cupola iß two flat faces from the bank out level
(see accompanying drawing). These flat faces use profiled bricks at the
corners as shown in the drawing.
In the late 1850s there were a number of colliery brickworks in
the Durham area and some may have produced fire-clay bricks~
The Museum is keen to establish whether or not a date of 1836 is
acceptable for this use of firebrick. There is circumstantial evidence
to.suggest this date, and definite evidence that the cupola was in
existence by the 1880s.
URGENT! !!
A quick response to this inquiry would be aporeciated since there is a
possibility that the structure will be required for the Beam collection.
Any members.with helpful comments should contact Mr Beech direct: Mr
Roy Beech, Beamish Open Air Museum, Stanley, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG.
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