Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 74
Print of Helder's house,
Enfield (Middlesex),
1675, from Pam's A
History of Enfield,
showing the gauged
frontispiece.
that can now be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Charles, the school-
master's son (Pam, 1990, 148) described as follows:
The structure was of rich red brick moulded into designs decorating the front
with garlands of flowers and pomegranates, together with the heads of cherubim
over two niches in the centre of the building.
…it was demolished in 1872, it was taken down brick by brick, with the greatest
care, each being numbered and packed in boxes of sawdust for carriage. Nothing
could exceed the beauty of the workmanship, the bricks having been ground
down to a perfect face and joined with beeswax and resin, no mortar or lime
being used.
The beeswax and resin mix is part of an old mason's mix mentioned at Kirby
Muxloe in April 1483 (Hamilton-Thompson, 1920, 270), as:
…1lb. Wax, and 2lb Rosen, for syment [cement] to be made therefrom for le
ffremasons.
This was a recipe for bricklayers cementing a block, or 'lump' of prepared
bricks to withstand vibration and abrasion in the carving of capitals, scrolls
and cartouches (Moxon, 1703, 286-7); and is discussed in more detail later in
Chapter 4.
