"These works were run by William Culley until his death on 10 August 1905. He was buried in Great Barton churchyard. His son, also named William, who had frequently gone to the works in his spare time to help his father, took over, presumably giving up his previous trade as a butcher — he had a shop in Kings Road in Bury St Edmunds — to do so. William Culley jnr carried on the works until 1926, when the management was taken over by Fred Stiff and he continued until 1939, when war broke out.

The original kiln at the Rougham Estate Brickworks was a rectangular Suffolk kiln with a capacity of 30,000 bricks, but this was sited opposite a house owned by a Mr Geoffrey Bennett, who had moved there from Rougham Hall. Smoke from the kiln was the subject of a complaint by Mr Bennett, and eventually the kiln was demolished and a new, beehive-shaped one, with a capacity of 35,000 bricks was built about 50 yards away from where the old one had been. The remains of the old original kiln could still be seen in 1990.

The works produced a red brick and standard specials of good quality, the bulk of the output being used on the Rougham Estate, but a proportion was sold to local farmers and to builders merchants in Bury St Edmunds.

In the early 1930s the two brickmakers employed made 900 to 1000 bricks a day, working very long hours and for this they were paid 10s. 0d. per 1000 (10 shillings is 50p. today).

When the war came in 1939, the brickworks were sited on the edge of the area where the Rougham airfield was to be established. At that time Mr Stiff had a kiln load ready for burning. He was allowed to fire this kiln and then the works had to close. It is probable that the works would have had to close, for the duration of the war anyway, due to the heat and smoke which came from the top of the kiln, possibly giving help to enemy aircraft.

The pits from which the clay for brickmaking had been obtained were filled in with rubble from the construction of the airfield; the drying shed and kiln were bulldozed down and also buried in the clay pits.

There is no trace of the brickworks today.

• 1890 to 1905 William Culley
• 1905 to 1926 William Culley junior
• 1926 to 1939 Frederick Smith
• 1939........ Works Closed and demolished