Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
In terms of the Dutch architectural influence that brought with it the use of
fine brickwork, Kuyper (1980, 205) affirms:
A retrospective view shows that it was not only the severe Classicist style of between
1630 and 1670 that provided models for English architecture, but also De Keyser's
earlier transitional manner and the later Dutch architecture of between 1670 and
1700, the so-called Flat style.
At the Restoration, in 1660, King Charles II reconstituted The Royal Office
of Works, granting positions to most of those who had served him in exile.
Commissioners, architects, and city craftsmen alike, their close professional and
social inter-relationships spread rapidly and assimilated the new architectural
styles, materials and craft practices that proliferate at this momentous time.
Brickmaking
Some late seventeenth-century brickmakers continued to use the slop mould-
ing technique while others used more refined methods of pallet moulding, in
which a 'stock board' was nailed to the bench. In this process the 'puddled' clay
was dashed into the dampened mould, which, like the stock board, was dusted
with sand to prevent the clay sticking. The excess clay was then cut off from
the top and the surface smoothed with a dampened stick called a 'strike'. The
mould was then lifted off the stock and the brick turned out on to a timber pal-
let board for removal on the hack barrow to the drying hack (Hammond, 1981,
11). This method of moulding produced a firm de-moulded 'green' brick and
reduced drying time required prior to firing.
There can be little doubt that this form of moulding helped make a brick
that was even better suited to being readily abraded than its predecessor. The
addition of sand also helps to prevent shrinkage, warping and cracking, and
reduces the hardness of the brick body.
Naturally occurring silica or, within certain limits, added silica sand is an
important component within a rubbing brick. Providing one was located on the
right type of clean, high-silica-bearing brickearth or clay, then the material for
the rubbing bricks was the same as for standard bricks. It would not necessarily
undergo any special treatment, such as washing, pugging and/or screening, to
distinguish the bricks from the processes involved in normal clay preparation,
especially if the brickmaker was on a rich seam of sieved down-washed allu-
vial material. Records are limited on this level of information, but absence of
evidence must never be taken as evidence of absence. Individual brickmakers
would do what was best to make a quality suitable to meet a booming market.
In the drying phase it was possible to lay out the green bricks on-edge imme-
diately and within a few weeks to stack them into a 'hack', involving long rows
