In December 2025, the Railway Work, Life & Death project was one of the organisations hosted in the ‘partner zone’ carriage on ‘Inspiration’, the Railway 200 exhibition train, when it visited Southampton station. We shared the space with the Brickworks Museum – and over the course of the day, we talked. Needless to say, we uncovered not only a shared railway aspect, but also an accident.
As a result, we asked the author of today’s blog, Richard Newman, if he’d be willing to write up what we’d discussed. This post is the result. We’re grateful to Richard for doing this, and are glad that we can help share something of what the Brickworks Museum is doing. We’re also really pleased to be taking the ‘South Coast’s Forgotten Railway Workers’ exhibition and the Railway Work, Life & Death project in to the Brickworks Museum on 6 September, as part of its ‘All Aboard! Trains at the Brickworks’ event.
So far as the Railway Work, Life & Death project goes, this post is also a valuable reminder that whilst the majority of incidents happened on railway property, plenty of industrial spaces – factories, collieries, docks – had railway connections or even their own railway networks. They came with railway risks, most often faced by staff employed by the organisation rather than a railway company – Albert Goddard was one such man. They don’t tend to feature in the project’s database of accidents to railway workers, which (following the contemporary records, produced inside the industry) largely focuses on railway staff. Been able to share Albert’s story and his work outside the railway industry is therefore a valuable reminder of how widely railway risks were once spread.
We’re always keen to feature guest blog posts, so if you’ve an idea, please let us know – more on that here, if you’re interested.
The Bursledon Brickworks
The original 1897 Bursledon Brickworks (the southern complex) was added to in 1903 with the addition of the northern complex. This was further extended in 1935. With the extra capacity, the brickworks was producing in excess of 20 million bricks a year. They were one of the main producers of bricks in the region.
Courtesy Brickworks Museum.
It closed in 1974 as it had been cut in half by the M27 motorway. Clay was being won further away from the machines so was getting expensive to move across site. The clay quality was deteriorating and a recession was looming. The Health and Safety at Work Act would have required substantial, costly, improvements to the site. They employed a workforce of about 80 people. It takes a similar number of volunteers to maintain it now.
Bricks left site in carts and later lorries. They also went by rail with the siding being used to import coal and export bricks. Lastly until 1918 there was an overhead ropeway which took bricks to the Hamble for onward transmission to Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight and Southampton. From Southampton we are aware that bricks travelled, mainly as ballast, to Mumbai, Canada and the West Indies. There is a hotel patio in Nelson’s Harbour, Antigua, made of Bursledon Bricks. There are also reports of a house built of Bursledons on the same island.
Connecting Brickworks and railway
Courtesy National Library of Scotland Maps.
The lane starting near the bottom left of the map is Coal Park Lane, Swanwick, Southampton, Hampshire. The mainline railway crosses the bottom left of the map. The siding comes off the main line into the works and passes through the yard via the west end of the kiln, the two smaller square buildings opposite River View Terrace.
You will note that the main line is single track built in 1889, connecting to the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). The map dates from 1909 and the dualling of the track between Netley and Portsmouth was not completed until 1910. The accident took place behind the highest building, in the picture below, which is the kiln.
Courtesy Brickworks Museum.
Shown in the image is an LSWR class 0395 0-6-0 tender engine built in 1882. Designed at Nine Elms Works by William Adams, it has his characteristic stove pipe chimney and square cab front windows. Seventy were built between 1882 and 1886 but sub-contracted to Neilsons in Glasgow. Many saw First World War service in Palestine and Egypt. Between 1916 and 1918 fifty were sold to the War Office, including No. 403. The engine went to Mesopotamia (now part of Iraq and Iran), leaving Swansea Docks in July 1917 after being overhauled at Eastleigh Locomotive Works.
Albert Goddard’s accident
The building, marked partly in red, is the bungalow. It lies next to the level crossing with the standard gauge siding running immediately to the west of the building. The truck involved was moving from left to right of this plan. There is a platform attached to the bungalow on the west side. This was where Albert Goddard was standing, he was described in his death certificate as a 41-year old labourer.
One of his workmates was in charge of the truck and should have operated the handbrake at the back. It was moving by gravity. It is believed that Albert thought it was going too fast. He jumped down from the platform hoping to operate the brake at the front of the truck. He misjudged the situation and became crushed between the platform and the side of the truck. As he was being released, he was heard by two witnesses to say that it was his own fault. Albert was seriously injured and taken to hospital in Southampton where he died at 7pm that evening.
Working at the brickworks was a dangerous job and many accidents occurred because the workers had not followed instructions. There was a rule that railway trucks should not be braked on the same side as the platform, only the opposite side. Albert was just doing his job and probably had more concern for the railway truck than he did for his own safety.
The 1911 census shows him aged 38, living as a border in the property of Frederick Hammond at Mrytle Cottage, Chapel Road, Sarisbury. He is shown as single, working as a general labourer in brickmaking.
The Coroner returned a verdict of accidental death, on 2 March 1914, it was registered at Southampton on 3 March 1914 and reported in the Portsmouth Evening News on 4 March 1914. The Coroner was Horace Kelway Pope a local solicitor. He was Coroner for many years during the early 1900s into the 1920s. The death certificate makes the following note: ‘Cause of Death: – Died from injuries sustained by him on the 26th Day of February aforesaid by his being crushed between a Truck and a Wall on a line at Swanwick in the said County of Southampton and that the death was accidental.’
There is very little evidence of the mainline railway visible on site today. We do have a length of 2ft narrow gauge which we occasionally run a small diesel shunter. We also have a miniature railway, which is scheduled to operate, whenever the brickworks are in steam, weather permitting. See our website for dates and times.
This year the main railways event is on Sunday 6 September 2026 – the day the trains take over the brickworks. All year round, volunteers to work on the miniature railway, including track and train maintenance, are always welcomed. Contact: Volunteers@thebrickworksmuseum.org
Prepared by Richard Newman, researcher at The Brickworks Museum, Swanwick, Hampshire SO31 7HG.
Worked for HMG for 22 years, 14 years as a fraud investigator. Left after an RTA in 1988. Ran an investigation, and security company, 1988 to 2011. Major events, Grand National, World Cup Rugby.
Since 2011 a trainer, assessor, internal and external quality advisor. Question writer for SIA qualifications for EDI, Pearson BTEC, IQ and BIIAB awarding bodies. For those wishing to qualify for SIA licences.
Retired in 2015, joined Bursledon Brickworks Museum Trust in 2017 as a volunteer, and now Site Manager. The ONLY steam driven Victorian Brickworks still in steam in the UK.