A brickfield is a common location name in southeast England. Its name derives from a field where the topsoil was removed and the clay beneath was stripped, and mixed with chalk and ash to create bricks. The field could then be used for horticulture. In Kent it was often planted with fruit trees. Brickfields were mainly created from 1770 to 1881, when a new shaly clay was discovered at Fletton. This period coincided with the housing and railway boom in London and cheap river transport in Thames sailing barges. Brickfields existed elsewhere, but often the clay layer was deeper or there was no chalk in the proximity.