Red brick buildings

RED BRICK appears to be the dominant building material that identifies Bourne with its immediate past and these were manufactured locally because stone was not readily available. There were several brick manufacturing yards in or near Bourne where this work was carried out in times past to keep pace with demand but have long since disappeared.

The South Lincolnshire Brick and Tile Company Limited had its works in West Road at the turn of the century and another place where clay was obtained for brick making lay immediately to the north in what is now Stanley Street. There is also mention in the manorial records of a brickyard on land to the north of Bourne.

Buildings gabled in the Dutch style are a feature throughout the Lincolnshire fens and many such buildings survive in Bourne, among them this commercial and residential property in Abbey Road that was formerly the Light Dragoon Inn and built in 1904. The monogram of the brewery, Mitchell & Butlers, can still be seen in the coloured glass lights over the side door. In the 16th century, the gables were crow-stepped and not with sloping sides, and later these crow steps were separated by curves. The Dutch influence in Lincolnshire building styles arose from trading links over the centuries.

The red brick that is seen so frequently in and around Bourne is used to its best effect in the houses built by William A Pochin who from 1844 to 1901 was Lord of the Manor of Bourne Abbots, one of the two manors into which Bourne was divided in mediaeval times, Bourne Abbots most likely deriving its name from the foundation of the abbey in 1138.
 

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