Newspaper Article 2022 – Fulfords churn out bricks, pottery

HISTORIC HAWKE’S BAY

Fulfords churn out bricks, pottery

Michael Fowler

Many people may be surprised to know Havelock North once contained an industrial brickyard – right in the middle of the village.

A family who would contribute significantly to brickmaking and pottery in Hawke’s Bay and New Zealand were the Fulfords.

John and Ann [Fanny] Fulford arrived in Napier aboard the Clarence with their four children ‒ who included John jnr and his wife Fanny and their two children. The passenger list stated they were coming from Wiltshire, England, but had family origins in Jersey.

The family were lucky not to have been affected by typhoid, which broke out on the voyage with 350 passengers; about 21 ‒ mostly young people – died.

It is thought Philip Dolbel, an owner of a brickyard in Hyderabad Rd, Napier, recruited brickmakers John snr and jnr while he was on a visit to England – which he did indeed travel there ‒ leaving Napier in April 1874.

Due to a number of other brickmakers on the Clarence, it appears Philip Dolbel had a good recruitment drive.

John senior would establish his own brickworks at Onepoto (Corunna Bay) about 1881.

In 1887, John jnr left Dolbel and began his brickmaking and pottery yard on land leased on Bernard Chambers’ Te Mata Estate ‒ around where Arataki Rd now enters Te Mata Rd.

John opened a shop on the property in 1888 and, according to a report, was selling “his wares, some of which are exceedingly good and very tastefully designed”.

What was John Fulford’s water well can still be seen at the end of the Karituwhenua Stream walkway, near the back of Black Barn Vineyards.

An earthquake was said to have affected his artesian water supply, and this was possibly the one that occurred and felt strongly in Havelock (North) in February 1895.

So he purchased 1.5 acres (0.6ha) of land in Joll Rd bordering the St Luke’s Church grounds to create a new brick and pottery yard.

This today extends up Joll Rd to the cinema building.

It is not known if he built the house on the property on the corner of Te Mata Rd and what is now Joll Rd (where the Bank of New Zealand is now) – or if it already existed (shown in photo at extreme right).

The clay they used was dug from “the slope just at the side of the mill”. John explained in 1904 to a very inquisitive reporter from the Hastings Standard that the clay was dug out from a depth of 40ft (12m).

The extracted clay was soaked by water from a hose, then wheeled up to the crushers, and from there went into the pug mill – a machine where the clay is tempered into the desired plastic state to be moulded into bricks.

When the clay was forced out of the pug mill, the pug operator cut off, using a crescent-shaped cutter, enough clay to fill an iron brick mould.

The operator then pressed clay into the mould, and a piece of wood called a strike ‒ which was 30cm long and 8cm wide – was used to smooth off the clay to give a “face” to the brick.

Completed moulds were then placed on a wooden pallet until it was filled, and then in a custom-made wheelbarrow the pallet was wheeled to a drying shed, where it remained for three days (depending upon the weather).

After this the moulds were put in the kilns. Bricks were burnt to a white-hot heat ‒ a process that took three days, and then when “the fire is cut”, left to cool for another three days.

Sixteen thousand bricks could be put in the kiln at one time.

Five tons of coal was needed for the kiln to do this (imagine this today in the centre of Havelock North).

There were protests at the kiln’s smoke by other villagers, but nothing was ever done about it.

There were two kilns on the property, and in addition to the one needed for the bricks, one was used for making flower pots, drain tiles and other pottery items.

John’s enterprising wife, Fanny, also made good use of the kilns.

When the codlin moth attacked William Guthrie’s apple orchard, she cut out the bad part of the apple into chip shapes, and first dried them in the sun, before placing them into her husband’s kiln. At the time dried apple crisps were imported from the United States, and Fanny’s were said to be “equal to the imported article”.

“What was John Fulford’s water well can still be seen at the end of the Karituwhenua Stream walkway, near the back of Black Barn Vineyards.”

John Fulford was to install a “modern brickmaking machine” later in 1904 that was in use in September, and automated the brickmaking process.

A news reporter sent to cover this new piece of machinery could scarcely believe his eyes at the mechanised process unfolding before him.

This machine would be used to make the hundreds of thousands of bricks needed to build the Grand Hotel in Hastings during 1905-07.

This building collapsed during the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake and, ironically, many of Fulford’s bricks made their way back to Havelock North to be used in garden paths.

The clay had been depleted at the site in 1914, and the business, by then called John Fulford & Sons, went out of business. Fulfords had been very much a family business with his son’s involvement.

Huelin Fulford, John’s son, started Te Mata Potteries in 1923, making handmade garden ware, vases, birdbaths, urns and flower pots in Fulford Rd. His son, Vernon, would join him in the business, and his youngest son, David, ran the smaller thrown ware (pottery produced on a potter’s ware) until 1974.

John Fulford’s house was moved up to 5 Joll Rd around 1910, when Foster Brook’s two-storey building was being built in its place for a 1911 opening.

The Joll Rd house was occupied by Gordon and Hannah Fulford until 1957, and is thought to have remained there until about 1960 before being demolished.

When the post-1931 earthquake building was being demolished to build the Bank of New Zealand, the post-1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake building was demolished, and a well used by Fulfords for the business was uncovered.

The area excavated for clay by the Fulfords later became a garden centre, operated by Des Joll in the 1970s.

• Michael Fowler ([email protected]) is a writer and researcher of Hawke’s Bay history. Follow him on facebook.com/michaelfowlerhistory

Photo caption – Havelock (North) in 1908. The Fulfords’ house is on the right, which now would be on the corner of Te Mata and Joll Rds. St Luke’s first spire can be seen in the background. Eve’s brickyard’s chimney can also be seen. Photo / Michael Fowler Collection