Before there were factories, brick was made by hand in Clonown and sold in town.

Men dug out clay from the banks of the Shannon (Fig. 1) and stepped on it to make it soft (Fig. 2)

Next, the clay was shovelled onto a table or stand (Fig. 3) and then put into a clay mould (Fig. 4)

This is what the mould looked like (Fig. 5)

Bríd got a loan of the mould and an old brick from the Castle Museum in Athlone (Fig. 6)

The bricks were left on the grass to dry and then piled into hacks or heaps (Fig. 7). When the bricks were dry, they were made into an arch and a turf fire was lit under the arch to make a kiln (Fig. 8). The bricks were baked for a few days.

People gathered around the kiln and played music and sang while the bricks baked (Fig. 9). One man stayed and watched and kept the fire burning (Fig. 10). To stay awake, he sat on a one-legged stool!

They loaded the bricks onto cots (Fig. 11) and sold them in the market (Fig. 12).

Heaton's Mills in Athlone (Fig. 13) and our school (Fig. 14) are made of Clonown bricks, and lots of houses in Athlone are made from our brick too.