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BRICK KILNS at THORNEY HILL
In the 1860`s
Holdenhurst was a
small village, largely owned by the Cooper-Dean family. Holdenhurst became known
as the "Mother of Bournemouth", it was once wild heathland covered in
shoulder high gorse. When the railway arrived in 1870, it grew rapidly, as owning a property by the sea was fashionable. 
The bricks for
building the new villas at Bournemouth, came mainly from Thorney Hill which is on clay beds. There were five
brick kilns, each of which took 32,000 bricks at one firing, needing several
days to cool down afterwards. The coal required was brought by train to Holmsley
Station, a two mile drive across the Forest by wagon. The finished bricks had
then be transported by wagon to Bournemouth. Brick making continued until the
outbreak of World War II.
