The clay pit

Almost inevitably, a brickworks creates a quarry which fills with water. The clay that is removed to make bricks is pretty well impenetrable by water – hence its use for puddling dewponds and canals...

Prospecting for Oil in the Lavingtons

Back in 1979, people came prospecting for oil in Market Lavington and along the vale generally. The process was simple enough, although no doubt much analysis had to be done of the data gathered. Som...

A Fishtail Tile

The old brick and tile works is long gone. The clay pit is filled and the whole site now has other, light industrial uses. But at Market Lavington Museum we can preserve the memory of the heyday of br...

Hacked off

In the brick making business hacks were stands where freshly made bricks could be stacked and dried before firing. Given the ability for the British weather to throw down rain, covers were needed to p...

A Narrow Boat on White Street

Let’s get the difficulty out of the way to start with. This is White Street, Market Lavington and the year is about 1998. We see a canal narrow boat, making its slow and cautious way down White Str...

Easterton from the Air – 1970s

Easterton has changed quite a lot in 50 or so years. We’ll see a few of the changes in this aerial photo taken in 1970. We could start at the top left with some of the houses on Hayward’s Place...

Honeychurch Doll’s House

We are delighted to have a Honeychurch doll’s house at Market Lavington Museum. These houses were made in Market Lavington, achieving a very high reputation for quality and they sold all over the wo...

Tin Snips

Throughout much of the 19th century, Market Lavington was fortunate enough to have a resident tinsmith – sometimes known as a whitesmith. These were men (women just didn’t do that kind of work 100...

Old Bricks

There is a long history of brick making in Market Lavington – certainly back into the seventeenth century. A suitable source of clay existed at Broadway where bricks were made through the eighteent...

Brick display at Market Lavington Museum

Market Lavington has what it takes for brick making – areas of suitable clay – and bricks have been made in the area for centuries. Brick making in Market Lavington is long since a thing of the p...