Ziegelei Siegeroth

The Ziegelei Siegeroth is a preserved brickworks in Wethmar, a district of Lünen in the Arnsberg region. It sits on a former family-owned site that has operated since 1811, making it one of the oldest brickworks in the area. The factory once had up to thirteen competitors in Lünen, all using local clay, but Siegeroth survived by adapting its products over generations. The site preserves a rare Zick-Zack kiln built in 1930 with eight chambers, along with workshops and drying sheds. This industrial monument shows how brickmaking evolved from field kilns to mechanised processes. The family introduced innovations such as artificial drying in 1956 and automated cutting in 1959, yet always kept handwork central. Their ‘Pättkensteine’ for garden edges and later drainage pipes and cable-cover plates kept the business alive despite mass production elsewhere. Visitors walk through the preserved factory yard with its brick kiln, tool shed and clay mound. Old blueprints have even been used to rebuild similar kilns in Rwanda. Photographs and films made by the Westphalian Industrial Heritage Museum document the final years of production. The entire complex remains protected as part of the Ruhr’s industrial heritage trail.