Geology Site Account

Site name: Shenfield Brickworks (site of)

Grid reference: TQ 6100 9400

Summary of geological interest

The former pit at the old Shenfield Brickworks once revealed a fine section of some 6 metres of Claygate Beds which consisted of thin, regularly alternating bands of clay and clayey sand. This was overlain by Bagshot Sand. Beneath the Claygate Beds was seen about 1.2 metres of greenish black clay which was assumed to be London Clay. The clay at this pit was virtually devoid of fossils.

The Essex Field Club visited the brickworks on 19th September 1925 (Essex Naturalist, Vol 21. 1927. Pages 190 & 191).

The geological literature gives the grid reference for the brickworks as TQ 610 945 but old maps shows the brickworks and pit at approx. TQ 6100 9400. The OS map of 1897 also shows clay pits on the eastern side of the railway line which may have been other brickfields.

Shenfield Brickworks in the early 1920s. The fine exposure of Claygate Beds consisted of layers of clay and sand laid down in a shallow sea about 50 million years ago. Photo: British Geological Survey (P202464).