Mainz’s very own industrial monument, the Alte Ziegelei in Bretzenheim.

A field kiln* was established close to a clay quarry in the fields outside Bretzenheim in the late 19th C by Nikolaus Tremmel.

It was modernised and extended by Ludwig Anselm Rosbach in 1904 with the introduction of  Hoffmann circular kiln* and continued production until 1972.

A group of concern citizens got together and convinced the City Fathers that the buildings and surrounding 19 hectares (50-ish acres) were worth saving from decay or the grasping hands of developers and thus was founded the Friends of the Alte Ziegelei with the aim of preserving the industrial monument (under a protection order since 1992) as a recreational and cultural centre.

And it has a chimney.

City Daily Photo is currently at periscope depth, so Julie, the Wizardess of Oz, is hosting this month’s theme day over here

*Field kiln – form tiles from clay and dry them in the sun; stack them on top of each other, in the shape of a simple house, leaving channels aligned with the prevailing wind for ventilation and to transfer the heat evenly ; pack sods of turf on the “roof” and plaster the “walls” to retain the heat. Fill the firing chamber with wood, coal or peat and fire for ever and a day and wait for FOUR to SIX weeks to open the kiln and find out that over 30% of your tiles are rubbish due to the uneven firing.

01 Jul This entry was published on 1 July, 2012 at 13:00. It’s filed under History, Mainz, Monthly Theme Day, Monuments and tagged Alte Ziegelei, Bretzenheim, Feldbrandofen, Hoffmannschen Ringofen. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.