By Roselyn Fauth with help from Rebecca Smith
My friend Rebecca Smith is selling her house at 111 Church Street. Instead of handing the real estate agent only a list of renovations and room measurements, she went looking for the people who had owned the land before her. She followed titles, valuation records, directories and old newspaper advertisements.
Rebecca generously shared that research with me, and this story grew from the questions she uncovered. Her careful work on the house and its historic title provided the starting point for this history hunt. Then she found the bricks...
One clipping announced that 27,000 bricks would be ready for delivery at the York Town Brickworks. Another identified Nathan Fisher’s business as the York Town Brickyard, “established 1860”. A third showed Henry Thornton, the prominent Timaru builder once associated with Rebecca’s property, holding an interest in land formerly known as Fisher’s Brick Yard.
A house history had opened a much larger question. Where was Timaru’s York Town Brickyard? Where was its clay cut from the ground? And are its bricks still standing around us?
One clipping announced that 27,000 bricks would be ready for delivery at the York Town Brickworks. Another identified Nathan Fisher’s business as the York Town Brickyard, “established 1860”. A third showed Henry Thornton, the prominent Timaru builder once associated with Rebecca’s property, holding an interest in land formerly known as Fisher’s Brick Yard.
A house history had opened a much larger question.
Where was Timaru’s York Town Brickyard? Where was its clay cut from the ground? And are its bricks still standing around us?
A yard advertised as established in 1860
Nathan Fisher was advertising as a brick and tile maker at the York Town Brickyard by December 1870. His advertisement claimed that the yard had been established in 1860 and that well-burnt bricks were kept in supply.
That date places Fisher’s business near the beginning of Timaru’s transformation from a settlement largely built in timber into a town increasingly constructed in brick, stone and concrete.
Brickmaking depended on three things: usable clay, fuel for firing and customers close enough to make production worthwhile. Early New Zealand bricks were generally hand-moulded and fired in temporary clamp kilns. Permanent kilns appeared as settlements and demand grew. Local yards developed wherever suitable clay and a market could be found.
Fisher appears to have found both.
The fire that changed what Timaru built with
On 7 December 1868, fire swept through the centre of Timaru. More than 30 buildings were destroyed as flames and burning debris travelled through timber premises and shingled roofs. When the fire was over, brick chimneys stood among the ashes.
The disaster made building materials a public issue.
A January 1869 Timaru Herald editorial argued that the town had burned so rapidly because almost all the affected premises were timber. It reported that most owners rebuilding after the fire had already chosen brick or stone, even while the Borough Council was still debating stronger regulation. A later account recorded that a bylaw required buildings within a defined central area to use stone or another incombustible material.
This did not mean timber disappeared. It meant brickmakers were operating in a town newly conscious of what fire could do.
Fisher’s 1870 advertisement was therefore well timed. Timaru was expanding and rebuilding, and brick had become associated with permanence, security and civic confidence.
Twenty-seven thousand bricks
By September 1872, Fisher advertised that 27,000 bricks would be ready for delivery at the York Town Brickworks.
That number is useful because it changes the scale of the story. This was not a man making a few chimney bricks behind his cottage. A batch of 27,000 could supply substantial construction, although the number required for any particular building depended on its dimensions, wall thickness and use.
The advertisement does not tell us who bought them. That missing customer list is one of the frustrations of the hunt. Bricks can survive for 150 years after the paperwork connecting them to their maker has disappeared.
Nathan Fisher and his son
In May 1877, Nathan Fisher announced that he had transferred his interest in the York Town Brick Yards to his son, J. E. F. Fisher, who would continue the business under his own name.
Later that year, approximately 18,000 well-burnt bricks were offered for sale at “Mr N. Fisher’s Brickyard, York Town”, in quantities to suit purchasers. The continued use of Nathan’s name may simply show how firmly the yard had become associated with him.
The advertisements give us a family business and a working name. They do not give us an address.
Where was Yorktown?
Yorktown was an early informal settlement on Timaru’s western fringe. York Street ran through it. Its exact boundaries were not necessarily fixed in the way a modern suburb is mapped.
By 1887, a Post Office directory map labelled a wider western area Sandicton, an alternative spelling of Sandie Town. The map places that suburb north-west of the central township, but it does not mark Fisher’s brickyard or identify a clay pit.
Advertisements place businesses at the corner of Elizabeth and York streets and describe Sandie Town as a distinct suburban community with stores, a bakery and houses.
This brings us to the most intriguing document in Rebecca’s research. Henry Thornton and “Fisher’s Brick Yard”. In July 1879, Henry Thornton’s contracting equipment was advertised for auction. Four draught horses, two drays, harnesses, timber, scaffolding and contractor’s plant were to be sold.
The advertisement also included: the equity of redemption of 1½ acre in Sandie Town, formerly known as Fisher’s Brick Yard. “Equity of redemption” meant that Thornton retained a financial interest in mortgaged land and the right to recover full ownership if the debt was satisfied. It does not tell us that he operated a brickworks there. But it proves that Thornton had an interest in a property remembered as Fisher’s Brick Yard.
This is more than a loose connection between two men in the building trade. Thornton was a bricklayer, mason and major contractor. He was responsible for buildings including the Old Bank Hotel and Timaru Courthouse, and he owned the Church Street land where Rebecca’s brick cottage was probably erected around 1879.
What the evidence does not prove is just as important:
that the Sandie Town property was Nathan Fisher’s York Town Brickyard;
that Thornton continued making bricks there;
that bricks from the yard went into 111 Church Street;
or that Fisher supplied Thornton’s major contracts.
Those are possibilities, not findings.
Were York Town and Sandie Town the same place? Perhaps partly. Perhaps not. Early neighbourhood names were used more casually than modern suburb boundaries. A property could be described according to the nearest settlement, road, subdivision or name familiar to local readers.
It is possible that the York Town Brick Yards and the Sandie Town land formerly called Fisher’s Brick Yard were the same property. It is also possible that Fisher worked more than one clay site, moved his operation, or retained different parcels for digging and firing.
The evidence found so far cannot decide between those explanations. The next decisive clue would be the legal description of Thornton’s 1½-acre interest. Plotting that parcel on the 1875 and 1887 maps might finally place the former yard.
Where was the clay pit?
Every brick began as a hole in the ground. Clay was dug, weathered or mixed, moulded, dried and then fired. A brickyard therefore usually altered the landscape. Extraction could leave a pit, bank, hollow or pond long after the kiln and sheds disappeared.
We have not found a contemporary map labelling Fisher’s clay pit, nor a reliable later account identifying a surviving excavation.
That means we cannot point to a hollow beside York Street and say, “This is where Timaru’s bricks came from.”
There is, however, strong evidence that Timaru’s later brickmaking businesses used local clay. Samuel Shears established a brickworks on College Road in 1871 and sold it to the Kirk brothers in 1878. That business eventually became part of South Canterbury Brickworks.
A detailed 1908 description of H. B. Kirk’s works referred to the dark yellow local clay used at the plant, alongside pale clay brought from Sutherlands. It described machinery crushing, pressing and washing clay, drying sheds, kilns and the manufacture of bricks, pipes, traps, tiles and ornamental products.
That was a different yard and a later period. It helps us understand the industry, but it cannot be used to reconstruct Fisher’s operation.
Which buildings used Fisher’s bricks?
At present, none can be named with certainty.
That is the answer a careful history hunt sometimes reaches.
The Old Bank Hotel was built in brick by Henry Thornton in 1876. Rebecca’s Church Street cottage is also brick and appears to date from Thornton’s ownership. Both were constructed while Fisher’s yard was operating.
But no contract, specification, account or newspaper report yet identifies Fisher as the supplier for either building.
Even proximity would not be enough. Timaru had other brickmakers, including the Shears and Kirk operation on College Road. Builders could also make bricks on suitable ground rather than buying every load from a permanent commercial yard. An 1871 Sandie Town bricklayer advertised estimates for making bricks on a customer’s own property.
The safe conclusion is: Fisher’s bricks were being produced in commercial quantities while Timaru was rebuilding and expanding, but the surviving sources have not yet connected a particular building to his yard. That missing connection is not a failure of the story. It is the research question the bricks leave behind.
The house that started the hunt
Rebecca’s cottage stands on land Henry Thornton bought in 1875. Valuation evidence suggests the house was built around 1879, although no surviving contract proves that Thornton built it himself or identifies its bricks. By July 1879, Thornton’s horses, drays, scaffolding and plant were being sold, together with his interest in the former Fisher brickyard land. The national credit-fuelled construction boom was faltering, and Timaru’s building trade was entering a severe downturn.
The cottage may therefore stand at the meeting point of several stories:
the rise of local brickmaking;
the rebuilding of Timaru after fire;
the growth of Yorktown and Sandie Town;
the career and collapse of a prominent contractor;
and the disappearance of a small industry beneath later streets and houses.
We cannot yet say where Fisher dug his clay. We cannot pick out his bricks in a wall. But we know that he and his son made them by the tens of thousands. We know that Thornton later held an interest in land remembered as Fisher’s Brick Yard. And we know that the modest house which began this hunt has survived from the same world of clay, carts, kilns, credit and construction.
Rebecca began by researching a home she was preparing to sell. She uncovered a missing piece of the town beneath it. The house at 111 Church Street is currently on the market. Thank you to Rebecca Smith for generously sharing her research into the house and its historic title, which formed the foundation of this history hunt.
Timeline
1860
Nathan Fisher later advertised the York Town Brickyard as having been established in this year.
7 December 1868
A major fire destroyed more than 30 buildings in central Timaru and accelerated rebuilding in stone and brick.
1869
The Timaru Herald reported that most owners rebuilding after the fire had chosen brick or stone.
1870
Fisher was advertising as a brick and tile maker at the York Town Brickyard.
1871
Samuel Shears established a separate brickworks on College Road.
September 1872
Fisher advertised 27,000 bricks ready for delivery at the York Town Brickworks.
1875
Henry Thornton acquired the Church and York streets parcel later associated with 111 Church Street.
May 1877
Nathan Fisher transferred his interest in the York Town Brick Yards to his son, J. E. F. Fisher.
August–September 1877
About 18,000 well-burnt bricks were advertised for sale at Fisher’s York Town yard.
1878
Samuel Shears sold his College Road brickworks to the Kirk brothers.
Around 1879
Valuation evidence suggests the brick cottage at 111 Church Street was erected during Thornton’s ownership.
July 1879
Thornton’s contracting assets were offered for sale, along with his interest in 1½ acres at Sandie Town, formerly known as Fisher’s Brick Yard.
1887
A Post Office directory map labelled the wider western suburb Sandicton, but did not mark the brickyard.
1908
A newspaper feature described the mechanised Kirk brick and tile works and its use of local and imported clay.
1920
South Canterbury Brickworks was formed from the Kirk and Quinn brickmaking businesses.
28 April 1973
Phyllis Kerr’s article, “The Bricks that Built Early Timaru”, was published in the Timaru Herald. The Aoraki Heritage record confirms the article exists, but the complete text has not been relied upon here because access to the original is by request.
Full sources
Rebecca Smith, History and Historic Title of 111 Church Street, supplied research document.
Nathan Fisher, York Town Brickyard advertisement, Timaru Herald, 28 December 1870:
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD18701228.2.2.3
Nathan Fisher transfer of York Town Brick Yards to J. E. F. Fisher, Timaru Herald, 28 May 1877:
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD18770528.2.18.2
Advertisement for 18,000 bricks, Timaru Herald, 23 August 1877:
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD18770823.2.7.3
Advertisement for 18,000 bricks, Timaru Herald, 10 September 1877:
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD18770910.2.6.3
“Great Fire in Timaru”, The Press, 10 December 1868:
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP18681210.2.17
Timaru Herald editorial on rebuilding in stone and brick, 23 January 1869:
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD18690123.2.6
“The Building Regulations”, Timaru Herald, 2 April 1870:
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD18700402.2.22
Timaru jubilee retrospective, Lyttelton Times, 14 January 1909:
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT19090114.2.67
Timaru District Council, “Why the stone face?”:
https://www.timaru.govt.nz/news/culture-and-lifestyle/why-the-stone-face
Auckland Libraries, New Zealand Post Office directory map of the town of Timaru and suburbs, 1887:
https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/maps/id/1657/
DigitalNZ record and reuse information for the 1887 map:
https://digitalnz.org/records/29954981
Te Ara, “Stone, bricks and mortar”:
https://teara.govt.nz/en/building-materials/page-3
Te Ara, “Brickworks, Christchurch”:
https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/26024/brickworks-christchurch
Aoraki Heritage Collection, South Canterbury Brickworks Ltd:
https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/1516
“Local Industry: Bricks and Pipes”, Timaru Herald, 29 May 1908:
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD19080529.2.47
Phyllis Kerr, “The Bricks that Built Early Timaru”, Timaru Herald, 28 April 1973, Aoraki Heritage Collection:
https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/3770