Recollections of Hermitage Life in the Early 20th Century

The following are extracts of articles published in the ‘Pathfinder’ parish magazine

Between 1992 and 1995 and written by Jill Burgess.

Forty years in the life of a village is not a long time but the changes that have occurred in Hermitage during the forty years of our present queen’s reign are many. In 1952 the village was virtually unchanged from pre-war days and life was still fairly austere with food rationing and few private cars on the road.

The Pinewood Brick and Tile Company and the South Berks Engineering Company still flourished, employing local labour, and the trains, both passenger and goods, ran regularly between Newbury and Didcot, linking the villages on the route. The village school was an all ages school (up to 14) with woodwork and cookery centres and well-known "temporary classrooms." Wernham’s bakery, Prior and Lowe’s grocery store and the village Post Office, with Joyce Rouse as postmistress, stocked all the necessities of life. Mr Harwood was the village butcher. An outing to Newbury on the Newbury & District or Thames Valley buses was the highlight of the week. The carrier came regularly and undertook shopping commissions in Newbury for a few pence.

By concentrating on one area of the village at a time it is hoped you will enjoy reading about your village and the occasions and characters still fondly remembered by original "Hermits".

PINEWOOD

That part of the village now occupied by the Cementation Company was formerly the site of the Pinewood Brick and Tile Company. Bricks were first made on the site for building the railway bridges whilst the railway was being constructed in the 1880s. The kilns then remained unused until just before the 1914-18 war when, once again, handmade bricks and tiles were manufactured and the beehive kilns used in the firing process. During the war large quantities of sand were sent by rail to fill the sandbags used in London.

Between the Wars

In the early 1920’s a large continuous burning kiln was constructed - a huge two storey building, three hundred feet long and sixty feet wide with a ninety-foot tall chimney. Sixteen chambers inside in a wheel formation were filled, fired and emptied in rotation. Mr Blackman was in charge of the fuelling, and he wheeled barrows full of small coals up a plank bridge, twelve feet to the upper storey - a somewhat perilous operation - no Health and Safety at Work Regulations then! On summer evenings he could be seen sitting with his feet dangling from his lofty perch, placidly smoking his pipe. Coal was delivered by rail in ten-ton trucks and left in the siding at Pinewood Halt. At that time John Gilbert was foreman and around 100 men were employed in digging sand and clay, pugging (rolling the clay until the correct consistency) and in making both handmade and machine made bricks and tiles. The continuous burning kiln was used for the machine made bricks and smaller beehive kilns for the handmades.

Strawberry Fields

Between 1934 and 1939 a Mr Trigg, who lived at Bankside, had about 5 acres of strawberries on part of the site and paid small village lads 3d (just over 1p) an hour to scare off marauding birds.

Wartime

During the 1939-45 war brick making was discontinued and the site became an RAF maintenance unit for tents and motor transport. Nissan huts were erected and the Pinewood Cottage at the entrance was turned into a guardroom. There were 30-40 civilians and RAF personnel involved at the unit and the RAF men were housed in the village hall.

After the war, brick and tile making was resumed with Bill Blake as foreman, living in Pinewood Cottage. Dick Fitter did the firing and about 12 employees made handmade bricks and tiles using the beehive kilns. The large kiln was not used after the war. Bill Blake was a great sportsman and made himself a concrete tennis court just by the house. Some very pleasant summer evenings were spent pounding balls back and forth - very good exercise but very hard on the tennis balls!

The Pinewood held great attractions to the small boys and girls of the time, and though strictly out of bounds (as all industrial sites should be) they thought it ideal play areas. They took great exception to being chased out by Bill Blake having no idea of the dangers of sandpits; water filled clay ponds and large disused kilns and empty buildings. The areas of woodland were well known for nightingales and their song could be clearly heard on still spring evenings. Large numbers of sand martins nested in the sandpits and wild flowers grew undisturbed in wood and fields.

The market for hand-made bricks and tiles narrowed and at the end of the 1960s a pair of semi-detached cottages at Oare View were demolished and an entrance over the disused railway line was made allowing the scout hut, the BT exchange and children's playground to be constructed on what was once the old Pinewood Brick and Tile Works. Very few signs are left of what was once a major local industry; one or two clay pits (well fenced in) and the Pinewood Cottage( now much extended)which was built to show off the handsome local bricks and tiles.

Memoirs of Harry Chamberlain of Marlston 1884 – 1973