Ewhurst Brickworks
Where: Walliswood, Surrey
Built: 1945-65
Architect: Unknown
Abandoned: c.1977
Listed: No
Visited: 1995-2013
Last Known Condition: Derelict, unroofed and largely demolished.
Page Updated: April 2026
My first experience of derelict buildings was at Ewhurst Brickworks around 1995 - my dad worked at the nearby Ockley Brick Co's factory and would take us for walks through the woods, often ending up here. At the time the works were largely untouched, with oilskins and donkey-jackets still hanging up in the canteen, the last load of bricks still in the kilns, trees sprouting up through cracks in the roofs and unidentifiable machinery slowly rusting into the ground - I remember finding the way nature was taking over fascinating and wanted to capture and preserve it in some way. A few years later I began taking pictures of this and other buildings that would eventually form the basis of this website.
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Clay extraction for brickmaking began at Ewhurst Works c.1945 under A. Hone & Sons, though many of the buildings on site (including the kilns) are later than this, having been erected in the 1960s. The small works comprised sand and additive hoppers, factory buildings, four drying tunnels, a Nissen hut canteen and seven intermittent downdraught kilns connected by underground flues to a central smokestack. A 2' gauge tramway worked by diesel and battery-electric locomotives brought clay from a small pit to the south.
The works closed c.1977 and by the early 1990s had become a haven for wildlife, home to bats, foxes, deer and owls. In 2004 the main factory roof collapsed and diggers were brought in to clear the wreckage, also demolishing the canteen and sand hoppers. What remained became a canvas for graffitists who covered every available surface in bright murals and tags. Since then, although several plans have been raised for dealing with the redundant site, none have come to fruition. Once again nature is colonising the bare concrete and for the most part Ewhurst Brickworks is being left to its own devices.
Bibliography
Mitchell, V. and Smith, K. (2003) "Surrey Narrow Gauge including South London" Midhurst: Middleton Press.
Payne, G.A. (1977) "Surrey Industrial Archaeology" Chichester: Phillimore.