Bricks Brickmen and Barges - Westmoreland Trust C.I.C

Westmoreland Trust
Published on November 13, 2014

Westmoreland Trust CIC seeks to restore the Thames sailing barge Westmoreland as a training vessel and working exhibit of the historic age when the brickfields and barges of North Kent played a key role in the growth of Victorian London and ranked alongside Chatham Dockyard as the leading local employer. In particular the Trust focusses on Westmoreland’s link with Lower Halstow - for her entire working life she was owned and operated by Eastwoods Brickmakers there. Westmoreland is the last remaining example of a Kent brick barge. Eastwoods Brickmakers were a large manufacturer of stock bricks in the area although the firm was established in the early nineteenth century in Lambeth. The founder, John Francis Eastwood, owned Wellington Wharf & 47 Belvedere Road, Lambeth (London), now the site of Jubilee Gardens and the Royal Festival Hall. Over the following decades the business grew and merged with other companies - the resulting empire of brickworks manufactured and delivered many millions of bricks across London, Essex and Kent. In North Kent, Eastwoods had several brickfields including Otterham, Lower Halstow, Funton and Conyer. Presented by the Westmoreland Trust CIC Editors: Clare Curling & Jason Friend Westmoreland Trust Community Interest Company info@westmorelandtrust.co.uk www.westmorelandtrust.co.uk 07585 446752 W ESTMORELAND T RUST S.B. Westmoreland in full sail PHOTO COURTESY OF CAROLINE EAGLES, TAKEN BY MARY EAGLES COURTESY OF CAROLINE EAGLES, TAKEN BY MARY EAGLES S.B. Westmoreland in Lower Halstow dock, with motor barge Lastholme. PHOTO COURTESY OF RON HARKNETT Below Eastwoods Limited Seal 3