Victoria and Albert reunited with Nightgale’s Brickworks Drying Sheds

As you may have seen on our website before, we have a page dedicated to the history of the Sewards engines and there you will see that we have a picture of Fowler Traction Engine “Albert” working at the Nightingale’s Brickworks in Petersfield, Hampshire. We were given this picture a few years ago now by a friend of ours and over the years have used it in our Sewards’ History.

Many of you know we have attended many events through the South of England and in that time we have come across a couple of the Nightingale’s Brick Drying Sheds, one at The Weald and Downland Museum in Singleton, West Sussex and the other is at Amberley Museum also in West Sussex.

Coincidently over the last few years we have spent much of our summers at Amberley Museum with Victoria and last year, of course, she was joined by Albert when he came back to join us. This got us thinking wouldn’t it be nice to have a picture of them both with the brick drying shed that Albert worked at as we have the picture to prove it and no doubt at sometime Victoria probably would have been there too. So on a sunny evening when we were at the museum, and both engines were still in steam, we trundled round to the brick drying shed and took a few pictures.

Also on a side note, Wendy’s parents’ house in The Causeway Petersfield also stands on the old brickworks and the drying sheds were across the road from them, and when Wendy was little she use to play on the waste ground where they once stood, and many a brick could be seen on the ground. Funny how sometimes all these things come together!

We also took a picture of Victoria with the brick drying shed at The Weald and Downland Museum a few years ago.