Brickearth

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Brickearth is originally a wind-blown dust deposited under extremely cold, dry conditions that can be used for making house bricks. The Brickearth is normally represeneted on 1:50,000 solid and drift edition geological maps^[1]. In the Thames Valley area, where the Brickearth overlies certain River Terrace Gravels, this has been reclassified on more recent maps as the "Langley Silt Complex"^[2].

It is a superficial deposit of homeogenous structureless loam or silt. It requires little or no admixture of other materials to render them suitable for the manufacture of 'stock bricks'. ^[3] Brickearth typically occurs in discontinuous spreads, about 2m to 4m thick, overlying chalk, Thanet Beds or London Clay. There are extensive brickearth deposits in Kent, particularly on the North Downs dip slope and on the Hoo peninsula, sections of the Medway and Stour valleys. The mineral content of brickearth is critical for brickmaking and precise proportions of chalk, clay, and iron.

In 1986 there were 4 active stock brick works in Kent, at Otterham Quay, Funton, Murston and Ospringe.

In Chichester, the brickearth is flinty brown silty clay up to five metres thick, which occurs on the coastal plain. The brickearth is unfossiliferous but occasionally yields man-made flint implements.^[4]