Through a continued search on internet and elsewhere, have started correcting this article w/ new, more accurate information.
Head’s Brickyard was located in Hooksett, NH, to east of Suncook Valley RR Loop Track, which ran along east bank Merrimack River. Wealthy, ex-military resident [ Col. Eugene Head ] w/ plenty of land, cash, political connections, family backing, started a thriving, seasonal [ yard shut down in cold weather; was not possible to make bricks until spring ] Brickyard business in 1836; supplying the huge Amoskeag Textile Mill Complex in Manchester, NH and many other area customers, thru the Civil War and into 20th Century, until August, 1917; when production halted. This was caused by a severe shortage of area manpower [ very likely due to the large numbers of local young men who left to fight in WW I ] . His land-holdings included very large clay deposits, along east bank of the Merrimack River. He was able to utilize river’s abundent water supply in the brick-making process and built an extensive yard in the area which later became known as Head’s Hill. Most outgoing early shipments were by heavy oxen or horse-drawn wagons. Later, he had SVRR spur run into the, now, mile-long yard, for huge brick rail-shipments, to as far south as Boston, MA. Brick molders used wood molds, filled with clay/ sand/ water/ colored pigment slurry; mixed in huge vats; constantly agitated to keep mix in suspension. Extensive, open-sided drying sheds, were stacked w/ new, wet bricks [ w/ each tier separated vertically] to be air-dried for several days, before firing. These were loaded , using oxen or horse-drawn skids of high, tiered wet brick stacks. Several huge, domed, refractory brick-lined kilns were&