Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
This provides yet more proof of the practice of using locally produced bricks,
with the 99,450 standard-sized rubbing bricks purchased for Winslow Hall all
being obtained from brickyards within seven miles of Winslow. Also, it shows
how important it is not to misunderstand Moxon who writes (1703, 239):
But the beft Earsth that we have in England for making of Bricks, is in the County
of Kent, from whence we have moft of the Bricks which are Rubbed and Hewed
for the Ornaments of the chief Fronts in the City of London….
He correctly states that best rubbers were to be had by being picked-out from
amongst good-quality brick. It is frequently incorrectly stated and recorded
(Lamb and Shepherd, 1996, 68) that true red rubbers are a unique blend of
brickearth confined to Berkshire and Kent. This is simply not correct. These
counties (like Moxon's Kent) were mentioned in seventeenth- and eighteenth-
century documents because of their close proximity and ability to transport - by
sea and river - bricks into London.
Moore (1996, 14) reveals how two small amounts of 'Rubbing Bricke' were
delivered for the enrichments of Coughton Court (Warwickshire) from
Worcester by horse and cart in July and September 1665 (a distance of 18 miles),
as the coal-fuelled clamped bricks produced locally were not of sufficient quality.
Hughes (1994, 107), quoting Surbey's diary entry for work in Nottingham on
Monday, 29th May 1699, writes 'Bricks are 12s 6d per thousand delivered, very
good and will rub. Carriage is here excluded.'
In essence, both brickearth and clays of varying quality, sufficient to make
rubbers, exists over various areas of England. They are, however, no longer
exploited as they once were.
For the building of Marlborough House, London (1709-11), designed by
both Sir Christopher Wren and his son, also called Christopher (1675-1747),
including gauged work with large niches, the bricks were imported (The Wren
Society, Bolton and Hendry, Volume VII, 1934, 227):
Dutch bricks were used in the construction of the house, rather smaller than
those made in England, redder in colour and cheaper, being brought in as ballast
in hired transports then coming and going between Holland and Deptford.
The brickwork of the century from 1660 is considered (Lynch, 1994, 44-5):
…by many authorities to be some of the finest artistic and skilful achievements
in the world. Bricklayers, especially those in London where the centre of com-
mercial and social activity lay, were keen to be recognised as intelligent, articulate
and highly skilled. They had to be conversant with and able to reproduce the lat-
est architectural fashions and craft practices.
