Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
1,000 (Edwards, 1977, 52). Summerson (1947, 64) lists brick prices delivered
per 1,000 in 1748:
Place bricks
14s.
Grey stocks
18s.
Do. (specially picked for uniformity of colour)
20s. or 22s.
Red stocks
30s.
Cutting bricks [for gauged work]
60s.
By 1813 these prices, according to Cox (2002) were:
Place bricks
55s.
Grey stocks
65s.
Cutting/rubbing bricks
85s.
Nicholson (1823, 345) reveals this was still true towards the end of the period:
The fine red cutting English Bricks are twice, or more than twice, the price of
the best Gray Stocks; the Red Stocks half as dear again as the gray; and the Place
Bricks, as they are much worse, so they are much cheaper, than any of the others.
The Georgian Bricklayer
In the hierarchy of the Georgian building trade, the premier craftsmen were
the masons, bricklayers, and carpenters in that order, with the master mason
or master bricklayer responsible for a structure in either stone or brick.
The guild system, such as the Tylers and Bricklayers Company in London,
was still operational at the beginning of the period, but rapidly losing its power
and control, due to the faster pace, quantity of construction, and an ever more
mobile workforce.
By 1814 'The Statute of Artificers' of 1563, that provided a legal basis for
apprenticeships was abolished. A time-served apprenticeship, however, con-
tinued to be the route into the craft, with periods of learning varying from
between four to seven years before qualifying as a journeyman, the best going
on to become respected master craftsmen.
These craftsmen bricklayers dressed very much like their seventeenth-
century predecessors, wearing knee-length trousers, stockings and boots, along
with a shirt and neckerchief under a wide-sleeved jacket, all protected beneath
a sheepskin apron tied at the waist; and topped-off with a broad brimmed hat
(Campbell, 2003, 25).
Summerson (1947, 53) describes a Georgian London master craftsman as
being:
…as a rule, a man of considerable skill and status - proud, conscientious and
expensive. He lived well, and drank heartily. He was capable of writing a fairly
