Anticipation, Brick by Brick is Built: Paranormal Investigation at Bursledon Brickworks
- Dr Iain M Lightfoot
- Oct 4, 2025
- 3 min read
There’s a certain anticipation that comes with preparing to step into a location that has just so much history. The Bursledon Brickworks, near Southampton, is one such place. By day it stands as a fascinating museum, preserving the memory of one of the last remaining Victorian steam-driven brickworks in the country. Yet, by night, those same corridors, machinery, and drying sheds take on a very different character.
A Place Built on Hard Graft
Founded in 1897 by the Ashby family, the brickworks became one of the most important industrial sites in the region. With abundant clay deposits and easy rail and river transport links, the works thrived. At its peak, it produced more than 20 million bricks each year, supplying the fast-growing towns and cities of Hampshire.
Life, as you can imagine, was far from easy. Work began at 7am in sweltering 40-degree heat. The conditions were unforgiving, and many men didn’t last long in the job. Child labour was used for the smaller, more dangerous tasks, better suited to the nimble work among heavy, whirring machinery. Tragedies in those hard times were inevitable, with men falling to their deaths or being injured beyond recovery. For the families that lived nearby, the brickworks provided income, but they lived and worked under a long shadow of hardship.
Decline, Closure, and Preservation
After nearly eight decades of operation, the brickworks finally closed its doors in 1974. The construction of the M27 motorway split the site in two, clay became harder to extract, and new health and safety laws made updating the ageing machinery expensive and impractical. For years the site lay dormant, a relic of industrial decline.
Thankfully, dedicated volunteers transformed the site into what stands today and in 2014 The Brickworks Museum rose like a phoenix from the baking kilns. Today, it is a living archive, preserving the stories of those who toiled within its walls and celebrating its industrial heritage. Yet for all its education and preservation work, the site has another, eerie reputation.
Whispers in the Shadows
Even in daylight, Bursledon Brickworks has a brooding atmosphere. The long corridors, looming industrial machines, and cavernous drying sheds invite the imagination to wander. Reports of paranormal activity are not uncommon.
EVPs have captured the voices of children, a chilling reminder of the child labour that once fuelled the site’s output. Visitors and investigators alike have reported shadowy figures moving among the hulking engines. The sense of being watched, of footsteps just out of sight, lingers long after the museum closes its doors.
This is a site where life was once harsh and short. It is not hard to believe that echoes of that struggle still remain imprinted on the very bricks and clay.
The Investigation Ahead at Bursledon Brickworks
Soon, Barry and I will again go beyond the veil, stepping inside the Brickworks after dark, carrying with us the tools of the modern paranormal investigator, cameras, recorders, EMF meters, and perhaps most importantly, open minds. There are so few stories available to the public about hauntings and energy at this unique location, and that only makes the anticipation greater.
Who or what will we meet in the shadows? Will the voices of long-lost children speak to us again? Will the men who laboured and suffered in the sweltering kilns reveal themselves?
One thing is certain, Bursledon Brickworks holds its secrets tightly, and we intend to start uncovering them.
Stay tuned because soon, those stories will be captured, shared, and added to the growing tapestry of Hampshire’s haunted history.
Thank you for reading. Please subscribe and share, and if you’d like to keep us fuelled through those long nights of investigation, you can support our work by joining the:
Midnight coffee Club at buymeacoffee believe me, every cup is enjoyed (and needed at times)!
Comments