‘Brick Pile’ or ‘Brick Stack’ was a name used by soldiers for the area next to the southern Spoil Bank mound. Later in the war, a light railway terminus here was named ‘Brick Pile Sidings’. For years I did not pay this much attention until I saw the reason for this in the photograph of Lock 7 below. The bricks are probably left over from the construction of the canal, or a pyramid to the memory of a forgotten Belgian Pharaoh.
![](https://palingbeektimemachine.be/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Lock7-August-1917-1024x706.jpg)
The brick pile is in background on the right, with Spoil Bank being the mound above the heads of the soldiers. The sand bag wall behind the soldiers is a canal crossing for a light railway.
![](https://palingbeektimemachine.be/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/20.09.1918.jpg)
![](https://palingbeektimemachine.be/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Brick-Pile-1915-copy.jpg)
As can be seen above, the brick pile was once immense like a medieval castle, surely blocking out the summer evening sun from Vaartstraat 13. Why it is there, so precisely stacked, so high and at quite a distance from where it might be used – if it is left from the canal construction – is a mystery. As is the reason Spoilbank shows up white in this photo.