Heritage Alert

Old Bristile Kilns, Ascot

The Bristile Kilns were entered on the National Trusts Endangered Places List in 1999 due to an unresolved issue that may see at least five of the kilns and four stacks demolished for a proposed road widening.

Recently, the issue was rekindled when the road widening was again presented as a reason for the removal of the structures. Alerting the National Trust of Australia's (WA) Advocacy Committee of the potential threat to the structures has resulted in a series of meetings being held by the Committee representatives with the different groups associated with the proposed road widening.

The Kilns are entered on the Heritage Councils Register of Heritage Places and afforded the protection of the Heritage Act of Western Australia. The statement of significance from the Heritage Councils Heritage Assessment is included below. The protection under the Act may ensure the survival of this rare group of kilns.

The group of eight kilns is the largest intact grouping anywhere within Australia and their heritage value is increasing as other kilns, and particularly, other groups of kilns with their intact connections to the chimney-stacks, are demolished.

The Advocacy Committee considers the intact group must be conserved as the cultural heritage values of the collection of structures is far greater than keeping a representative one or two.

Statement of Significance (Heritage Council of WA Heritage Assessment)

Old Bristile Kilns, an industrial site comprising eight brick beehive kilns and five tall brick chimneys, has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:

The place is the largest cluster of beehive kilns and associated stacks in Australia. Although of a standard design from c. 1920s to 1950s, the kilns are becoming an increasingly rare industrial structure in Australia;

The place is a landmark feature of the City of Belmont;

The eight brick beehive kilns are an unusual and unique built form and the five tall brick chimneys dominate the local landscape;

The place was the location of the first specialised pottery works established in Western Australia in 1905;

The place is associated with H. L. Brisbane, the Chairman of the Board of the company from 1929 to 1966. Brisbane developed the Bristile building empire, which has dominated the Western Australian building industry since the late 1930s;

The place has the potential through archaeological investigation to yield information about the technological, functional, and evolutionary aspects of early kiln design and operation in Western Australia; and,

The place represents the development of the clay industry in the Belmont area and has had a significant impact on the development of the City of Belmont from 1905 to 1982.