Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
To establish the shape of individual voussoirs, for setting out templets, two
methods are given. In the first, the positions are 'pricked-out' on the extrados
and drawn from each by pencil run along a rule resting against a nail placed
at the striking point of the arch. In the second method, voussoir positions are
evenly spaced on the extrados, but also - to lesser widths - along the lower line
or intrados by subdividing them both. These radial lines are then drawn along
a ruler placed to link these two opposing marks.
Moxon finally considers the bonding pattern of the straight arch face as a
half-bond of alternating stretchers and headers (see figure 83); this is in the
manner of the Dutch. He correctly advises caution when bonding courses in an
arch if odd or even in number. If odd, preferable for symmetry and bonding of
the 'key-brick', then the first, or springing, voussoirs can be identical, either
headers or stretchers at the bottom. If even, then the 'springers' on either side
must be different, a header opposing a stretcher.
Summary
The post-Restoration period heralded a golden age for English brickwork, once
again influenced by the craft practices of the Dutch. The degree of accuracy
required to set-out, cut and rub, and lay a superior grade of low-fired rubbing
brick, with joints as fine as 1 mm, saw the emergence of the term gauged work.
The reduction of the joint size was part of the classical masonry tradition of
minimising the detracting impact of many bricks within a classical enrichment.
Gauged work was an essential part of the principal fronts of new brick buildings
after the Great Fire of 1666. That it was an integral part of a first-class bricklayer's
range of skills is emphasised by study of Moxon's seminal craft treatise,
Mechanick
Exercises: OR, the Doctrine of Handy-Works. Applied to the ART of Bricklayers Work
,
of 1703.
Case Study: Eltham Orangery Niche,
c.
1700-20,
Eltham, London
Architects Perspective
By Caroe & Partners, London
The Eltham Orangery is an early 18th century grade II* listed structure and
was originally part of Eltham House, which stood on what is now Eltham High
Street in the London Borough of Greenwich. Believed to have been commis-
sioned for Colonel John Petit, and built between 1717 and 1720. The Orangery
was built against the rear garden wall facing South. Parts of this wall, the earli-
est structure on site, still remain.
