Braystone House brickworks & the Higgins family
Just along Salford Road from Aspley Guise, north of the railway crossing, on the left, stands “Braystone House”. This house was once the base for a small family-run brick works. Brick-kilns are marked on the Ordnance Survey map in 1881 and the house name was certainly in use by 1889. But who made a living from this relatively tiny endeavour?
Samuel Higgins was born in Husborne Crawley in 1831, where his father Felix was a brickmaker. His mother died when he was nine and Samuel followed into the family trade, moving to work in Turvey as a journeyman brickmaker, where he appears in the 1851 census living in the house of boot and shoemaker John Burdin in the High Street there.
The next year saw his marriage to Charlotte Elizabeth Lacey of Turvey and a son, Frederick (Charles) Higgins, arrived. By the next census of 1861, the family had moved to Aspley Guise where he lived on Church Road, also known as Salford Road, near Hayfield Farm, where his brother Joseph had joined them. This was undoubtedly the site of Braystone House, although it may have been an earlier smaller house then. Samuel had identified that he could dig the clay needed for bricks here.
A daughter, Gertrude, was added to the Higgins family in 1862. There are a couple of Drunkenness charges against a Samuel Higgins around the end of the 1860s, but I think this was more likely his nephew, son of his brother John, who also lived in Aspley Guise, rather than the Samuel at the brickworks.
There is a small mention of him winning a court case in the Buckingham Advertiser & Free Press on 23rd December 1871: “John Scott v. Samuel Higgins, of Aspley; this was a claim for £1.7.4, for carting bricks at 3s. per load; the defence was that the charge was to be 2s. 6d. per load; judgment for defendant.”
Brickmaker Samuel also needed a ready supply of sand for his business, which he did not have immediate access to. We know this, as Aspley Guise Parish took the unusual step of obtaining a Court Order forbidding him from removing any more sand from the parish sandpit (now in the parish of Aspley Heath) for making his bricks with. The injunction was published in the Leighton Buzzard Observer & Linslade Gazette on 6th July 1875:
I can’t imagine the Parish officials did this without repeated warnings and complaints being made. However, he must have obtained a good source somewhere else or came to an arrangement with the parish to pay to use the sandpit as he stayed in business. (Indeed, in the Bedfordshire Mercury of 12th October 1889, mention is made that brickmakers and “outsiders” were being charged 6 pence a load to take material from the Aspley sand pit.) There are no further mentions of Higgins in the press until the next decade.
The 1881 census captures him at 50 years of age and his business at its height – he had 13 men and one boy working for him. No doubt his son was also engaged in the business and his daughter was a dressmaker. Also in 1881, he took Ebenezer Tite and Elias Neal, the Trustees of Wavendon Wesleyan Chapel to Court for £21 18s. 9d. as the contractor engaged to build the chapel there had not paid for the bricks that Samuel had supplied before going bust. There was a great deal of legal argument over whether the Trustees had issued a guarantee for the payment and I can’t find a definitive conclusion to the case. He was back in Court in June 1882:
“CHARGE UNDER THE FACTORY ACT. Samuel Higgins, brickmaker, Aspley Guise, was summoned by her Majesty’s Inspector of Factories for that he did, on the 17th day of June, unlawfully employ a certain child, named Edwin Yates, after two o’clock in the afternoon. He was also charged with employing on the same day, after two o’clock, George Tansley and William Hobbes. Defendant pleaded not guilty.
The case of employing William Hobbes was first taken. James Wm. Wood, inspector of factories, said that on Saturday, the 17th June, he visited the brickyard of Mr. Higgins, at Woburn Sands, and found there employed a boy named Hebbes, the time of his visit being 3.20. Witness visited the brickyard in September last and had forwarded to Mr. Higgins an Abstract of the Act. William Hebbes, sworn, said he was in his 15th year. Remembered Mr. Wood’s visit on the 17th June. He commenced work at 4 o’clock in the morning, and he generally left work at 4 o’clock on Saturdays. Mr. Higgins said that he always left the management of his brickyard at Woburn Sands with his man Hebbes, and he took on who he liked and discharged who he liked, and he did not consider that he was to blame in the matter.
The case of employing George Tansley was then taken. Wood said that on the 17th June he visited the brickyard of Mr. Higgins, at Woburn Sands, and found there a boy named Tansley. Did not see him working. That was at 3.20. George Tansley, sworn, said that he was in his 15th year. Remembered Hr. Wood visiting the brickyard, and told him he had just done work. He commenced at 6 o’clock in the morning.
The case of employing Edwin Yates was them taken. Mr. Wood said that on the 17th June he visited the brickyard of Mr. Higgins at Aspley Guise and found there working a boy named Yates. That was at five minutes past five. Visited the brickyard in April, 1879, and left Abstract of the Act. Edwin Yates, sworn, said that was in his 11th year. Remembered Mr. Wood visiting the brickyard on the 17th June, he was then working with his father. The Chairman said that Mr. Higgins was responsible the action of his men and must in future see they were not employed after the proper time. He would he find 5s. in case, and the costs £2 5s. 6d. Mr. Higgins immediately paid the amount, but considered he was hardly dealt with under circumstances.”
So it appears Samuel had separate brickworks at Woburn Sands and Aspley Guise? He was back in Court in July 1887, claiming nearly £24 from William Sharratt, a Woburn Sands builder, for bricks supplied from 1884 to 1886. The Court said the evidence showed Sharratt had paid the bill, so Samuel lost this one.
All four of the family were still in the house for the 1891 census, with the addition of a visitor, 21-year-old Harriett Wooding. Samuel was then described as a “Brick Merchant”, while his son Frederick was now the “Brick Maker” of the household, so Samuel had handed the business on to the next generation. Almost the exact same details appeared for 1901 census, minus the visitor. Samuel was then 70.
Finally, we come to the first record of the house name “Braystone” being used in the online scanned newspapers. The Ampthill & District News of 2nd July 1910, reported that “Mr. Higgins of Braystone House” had offered to pay £17 10s. as half the cost of connecting his house to the new water mains, which was accepted by the Newport Pagnell Rural District Council. It was being organised under that Buckinghamshire council, despite the house being in Bedfordshire, as the local water scheme was a project by both counties and the reservoir used was in Bucks.
Samuel’s wife Charlotte passed away before the end of that year. Her obituary from the Bedfordshire Times & Independent, 9th December 1910: “ASPLEY GUISE. The death took place on Sunday of Mrs. Higgins, of The Brickyard, after a long and painful illness from cancer. Deceased, who was the wife Mr. Samuel Higgins, was a well-known and highly respected resident, and for a long period until her illness was an active worker in connection with the various branches of religious and philanthropic work carried on in connection with the Memorial Hall.”
The 1911 census for Braystone House shows Samuel as 79, living with his unmarried son and daughter and Mary Marsh, a 70-year-old widow listed just as a “Relation”. Both Samuel and Frederick gave “Retired” as their occupation. Gertrude was listed as “Housekeeper”.
Samuel Higgins died during the First World War in April 1916. His obituary from the Leighton Buzzard Observer & Linslade Gazette reads:
“DEATH OF MR. S. HIGGINS. On Thursday morning the passing bell intimated that Mr. Samuel Higgins, a well known tradesman and a conspicuous figure in the village, had gone to rest. For many years he managed a brick-field for Mr. Warr, and afterwards purchased a field which he knew to possess excellent stores of the best brick earth. He erected a residence there, and his business grew rapidly, Higgins’ bricks being in great demand. Many local buildings were constructed with his bricks, among others the present Woburn Church. Mr. Higgins gave up business some years ago, but continued up to the last to farm the remainder of his land. He came from Turvey to Aspley and always retained a very warm place in his heart for his native village, latterly paying it one or two visits annually. Though brought up as a Churchman he attended the Courtney Memorial Hall, and until recently he was a regular worshipper there. During the past few months he had suffered from cancer. His wife predeceased him some years, and he leaves a son and a daughter.”
He left just over £5,744 to his children – a considerable sum. Soon after their father died, a sale was arranged of all the brickmaking stock and equipment by Gertrude Higgins. Perhaps they had agreed that Frederick took the cash and Gertrude had the house?
The Luton News & Bedfordshire Chronicle newspaper contained a Foll & Bawden sale advert in July 1919. The sale took place on site on 28th July, “at the Old Brickyard… between Aspley Guise Motor Halt and Salford” and consisted of “Bricks and Tiles, namely two Brick Kilns containing many hard red bricks with some wood and ironwork, also unused ordinary coping, cant, moulded and other special purpose bricks, plain and pan tiles, chimney pots, seed pans, flower and sea kale pots, eight brick barrows, corrugated iron, two long ladders, pump, old windmill, and connections, some farm implements, smart bay cob, aged, quiet and suit a lady, set of plated brown harness, and capitol Governess Car (take about 15 hands) with rubber tyres, by Nichols, Bedford, about one acre of mowing grass.”
…And that was the end of brickmaking at Braystone House, Aspley Guise. With the bricks apparently still in the kiln, it looks as if production had ceased quite unexpectedly. Once these goods were gone, the house itself was put up for sale by auction at The Swan, Woburn Sands, on 28th May 1920, as advertised in the Bedfordshire Times. The seller is not listed in the advert, but it states with Miss Higgins in occupation, although vacant possession would be given to the buyer. It was described as “The brick and tiled, detached and partly creeper-clad residence, known as “Braystone House” occupying a pleasant and rural position and containing 4 bedrooms, bathroom, 3 sitting rooms and offices, with stabling and Farmery. Productive garden, lake, pasture and arable land. In all over 8 acres.”
[Some Smallholdings general correspondence, which includes the sale particulars, are lodged at Bedfordshire Archives – Ref: AO/C6/10 and another at Buckinghamshire Archives – Ref: D-WIG/2/6/213]
Frederick Higgins did not die until 1939, still in Aspley Guise, then living in Mount Pleasant, having married in 1916. His obituary in the Leighton Buzzard Observer mentions that “…his father, the late Mr. Samuel Higgins, made large quantity of bricks for a former Duke of Bedford, who used them largely for building the picturesque cottages which adorn many of the villages on the Abbey Estate.” His sister Gertrude passed in 1947, leaving £9,900 in her will.
It appears the purchaser in 1920 was Capt. Frank Daniells, ex-12th Batt., West Yorks. Regt. He had suffered from shell-shock during the First World War and had to be dragged out of the trenches and saved by his men. Upon his return to England, he had lived firstly in Wing, Bucks., before moving to Braystone House. Thus he, his wife and daughter were in residence for the 1921 census. He was 51, his wife Clara 50 and daughter Alice 24. They did not stay long before moving to Mentone Avenue in Aspley Guise. The sale advert in the Beds. Times, in June 1921, was very similar to the last one, but specifically lists two lakes and 8¼ acres of grass land. [Bucks Archives also have these sale particulars at D-WIG/2/6/542] He lived out the rest of his time in Mentone Avenue until he passed away in 1935, aged 66.
The purchaser from the Daniells was Mr. H. Clarke Saxby, who began to advertise his own business from the property in the Beds. Times in February 1922. It appears Braystone House had gone from bricks to beaks: “Aspley Guise and Woburn Sands – Wtd. Customers for NEW LAID EGGS – Saxby, Braystone House, Aspley Guise.”
His adverts the next month were far more detailed: “Eggs for hatching: R.I.R (Colley), White Leghorn (Barron), W. Wyandotte (Cook St. Mary Cray), Croad Langshane (Ridley-Bradley), Light Sussex (Lister-Bradley), Runner Ducks (Fawn and White), 7/- per doz., carriage paid. All eggs guaranteed from exceptionally hardy naturally hatched birds. Sires from the world’s best pens. Saxby, Braystone House, Aspley Guise, Beds.”
His adverts continued for about a year, later adding that no business would be transacted from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, possibly indicating that Mr. Saxby was a Seventh Day Adventist. Yet by summer 1923, it appears Saxby wanted to continue his business onsite, but no longer needed the house. He advertised it in the Beds. Times in June, with ½ an acre of land, adding that more land with poultry runs was available too. It was put to auction at the Swan Hotel, Woburn Sands (again) on 27th June but failed to elicit a single bid. Private sale adverts for the “Poultry Farm and House” appeared during July 1923, adding to the description that it had a conservatory and paddock that had been a tennis lawn. The asking price was £975, with a further four acres available if required at £50 an acre. Details could be had from the “owner”, but no name was given. It appears there were still no buyers.
Saxby finally put it up for sale in 1924, saying he was now leaving, so this time, the whole estate of house, outbuildings and paddocks on 8¼ acres was advertised in the Beds. Times for £1,500. An auction was due to be conducted on site by Swaffield & Son on 28th May, but it sold by private sale a few days before.
I cannot locate Braystone House on the 1939 Register. It may be that the entries are still closed. There are no reports about the house’s new owners until a brief mention in July 1940, when the Beds. Times reported on a Bletchley County Court case where “Messrs. Rolley & Kilsby of Braystone, Woburn Sands” sued a local dog-owner for £3 for the death of four of their birds, so it had obviously continued in the same trade. The foreman of the poultry farm was given as Alfred Charles Short. They won their case. The Second World War had now started, rationing was in force and anything which affected egg production was a serious affair. Even more serious was the dropping of two German parachute land mines on 24th September that year around Salford. These damaged local electricity cables, Braystone House and Crabtree Farm at Hulcote. (Beds. Archives ref: WW2/AR/CO/2/2)
At the end of the war, the occupants changed again, as the Mason family moved in. Mrs. Mason was noted to be the Divisional Secretary of the North Bucks. Red Cross. Her husband, Capt. Ian N. Mason MC, passed away on 31st December 1946 in Aylesbury, aged 53, his obituary appearing in the Beds. Times. He had won his MC at Messines in 1917 during the First World War. After ten years’ service with the Reigate Special Police, he had volunteered again in 1940 until invalided out of the forces, whereupon he assisted his wife in Red Cross and Ambulance services. They had three children. He was buried at Aspley Guise.
Mrs. Mason stayed on at the house, converting it into a Guest House and advertising in the Beds. Times by March 1948: “Braystone Guest House, Aspley Guise, has now been opened for board-residence. Luncheons, teas, dinners. Non-residents and private parties specially catered for. All meals at popular prices. Fishing in the lake in own grounds for pike, roach, eels. Mason. Tel. Woburn Sands 2123.”
Beds. Times, April 1949: “Braystone Guest House, Aspley Guise; Our pleasure your satisfaction. Open to non-residents. Birthday, etc. parties specially catered for. Inquiries to Proprietress. Tel. Woburn Sands 2123.” She was selling a 1936 motor mowing machine from the same address that month too.
A different name appeared in a Beds. Times small ad in December 1949, a Billing, who was emigrating to Australia and wanted to sell up their furniture for a small home. Was this an owner or just someone staying there? In 1950, Kenneth William Stacey, farmer of Braystone House was prosecuted for selling oats to four neighbouring farms outside of the rationing system that was still then in force. He was fined £2 for each offence. He was still there in 1957 when he raised complaints about sewerage getting into the brook on his farm.
By 1960, the Still family had moved in. Their daughter, the librarian at Woburn Sands, married Philip Clarke in 1963. The Clarke family then owned it for more than 60 years until it sold in 2025 to the present owners. The large pit created in the field beside the house by the Higgins family in extracting clay filled with water and became a nature reserve which is now separate to Braystone House.
Page last updated Nov. 2025.