(NZ 02718152) Brick and Tile Works (Disused). (1)

NZ 027815. Capheaton Tilery consists of two chimneys, two kilns, clay pits and coal workings, all extant, plus other unidentified buildings and structures which may have been blungers, tile sheds etc. Estimated date circa 1800. Recommended as Schedule. (2)

Remains of a tilery, with two masonry chimneys. Block of three adjacent kilns. Position of the two chimneys suggest flue gases from the kilns were used in drying clay products before firing. Drying flats would have been located by the moulding bays in the two buildings which partially survive. The walls of another kiln stand nearby. At the south west corner of the site is a masonry lined shaft, well or cistern with an engine bed alongside. Clay pits and coal mines in fields to the west. (3)

Compulsory powers used by the Secretary of State in 1977. This tile-works was described as the best surviving of around 40 tileworks in Northumberland, and comprised two chimneys, two kilns, clay pits and coal workings as well as other unidentified buildings and structures. In response to a notice of intent to demolish the monument an Interim Preservation Order was recommended. The two chimneys were demolished despite this. (4)

Capheaton Tilery lies on the Kirkharle Estate. By the early 1830s the estate was owned by Thomas Anderson who probably established the tileworks. The works were disused by 1922 and probably closed around the turn of the century, as did other comparable works in rural Northumberland, particularly those remote from railway lines.
The site comprised a group of roofless buildings with walls standing up to 2.5m, one detached kiln (derelict), a group of three kilns without their firing walls, two chimneys, a presumed clay mill site, a circular 'shaft' set in a plinth 1.6m high, and various earthworks. The main structures were of sandstone. The chimneys were of superior construction, one had a stepped profile and carried a stone marked 'RW 1851'. The internal flues and kiln linings were of fire-brick; fire-bricks marked 'T. Carr' and 'Heddon' were found.
The tilery initially had a single two-storeyed building containing a mill, manufacturing and drying flats, with a single tile kiln. Steam power was probably available for the mill, for pumping and possibly for shaft winding. In or about 1851 an extension was made, giving additional drying flats; forced drying was obtained by passing flue gases from a new bank of kilns, under the floor of the flats to a single chimney on the opposite side of the building.
Surveyed in August 1977 by Dr S M Linsley for Tyne and Wear Industrial Monuments Trust. (5)

Site inspection April 1995: chimneys no longer standing. Remaining buildings have modern agricultural buildings built up against them. (6)

Site noted in a general review of clay-based manufacturing sites in the north east of England (7); where stated working around 1863. Description as above; kilns classified as three Newcastle kilns of stone vaults and firebrick interiors, though much altered. Site operated by T Anderson in 1860s (7).

NZ 027 815. Capheaton tilery. Scheduled No ND/585. (8a)

Recorded by NRIM, photographed. (8b)