A Brickmaker's Tale by Peter Minter

First edition, as new. An excellent large format book designed by Brown & Brown of Sudbury. 15.0cm x 25.0cm x 1.3cm (12.75" x 10.00" x 0.50"). pp.112 . Brown glossy boards with coloured pictures and white titles to the spine. Illustrated endpapers and numerous black & white and coloured pictures within the text.

Chapter titles include: Memories of the 1930's and wartime; 1940 wartime recollections; The kiln is the focus of every brickyard; The post-war years; Building a new kiln, saving the old; Our clay, the geology and pug mills; Farm, fruit and brickyard survival; where do Bulmer bricks go; Craftsmen and characters; In front of the camera; Case histories that illustrate examples of our work; A history of problems solved; The brickyard history; The past forty years; Brickmaking today. 

Excerpt from press release by Emma Brennan EADT March 2015 : 

" Peter Minter has written a book 'The Brickmaker's Tale' about the history of brick making in Bulmer, which dates back to 1450 and is the only place in the UK still making bricks using this method.

There is not much that Peter Minter doesn’t know about the centuries-old craft of brick-making.

The 82-year-old, from Bulmer near Sudbury, has gleaned most of his knowledge during a lifetime spent lovingly hand making the clay building blocks at a yard with a history dating back more than 500 years.

Mr Minter, owner of the bespoke Bulmer Brick & Tile Company on the Suffolk/Essex border, is believed to be the last of his kind in the UK using traditional methods to hand-make bricks.

He has just been persuaded by local historians, family and friends to record some of his unique knowledge and memories in a book, entitled The Brickmaker’s Tale.

In words and pictures, it tells the story of the brick yard and the people who have worked there over the years and it also highlights some of the interesting projects Mr Minter’s family has worked on.

In recent years, this has included recreating historic bricks for National Trust properties such as Hampton Court Palace and Blickling Hall in Norfolk, as well as bricks for the extension to St Pancras Station in London. The ones in the original station building were made ?by Mr Minter’s predecessors.

He said: “People often ask how I know certain tricks of the trade but I was brought up with all the old boys at the yard who taught me things that other people have forgotten. My family have often asked me about the past and I became aware that there was a need to record the history of the site and the characters who have worked here over time for posterity.

“The brick yard’s story is quite unique. It has the longest history of any yard in the UK dating back to 1450 and the clay we use is the only clay of its type in the country.”

The first part of the book covers the early history of the site while the second explores the period from 1936 when Mr Minter’s family took the company over."