Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Gauged arches to doors, windows, &c, are set in putty and charged by the foot
superficial according to their different constructions…
Also that an extra price is allowed for gauged work set on a circular, elliptical or
any swelling bow plan.
Dearn (1809, 99-101) then goes on to detail contemporary practice in meas-
uring various gauged arches to determine their individual prices, the prices
charged reflecting the degree of complexity and accuracy demanded in the
gauged enrichment. He also discusses brick cornices, adding that they were
formerly very much in use but had entirely fallen out of fashion and that work
set in front mortar [of quality sand and lime, well-screened for façades] was
half the price than that set in putty [lime putty and silver sand].
Tools and Equipment for Gauged Work
As Moxon's treatise is an invaluable source of information on the tools, materi-
als, and craft practices of the seventeenth-century bricklayer, so the building
and pattern topics of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century are for the
Georgian period.
At the beginning of the period, Moxon's descriptions of the art of the brick-
layer remained true for the Georgian cutting shed and site. This is largely why
Neve, in his original publication (under the pseudonym T N Philomath), of
'The City and Country Purchaser and Builder's Dictionary'
of 1703 (second edition,
Neve, 1726), uses many of Moxon's own words within his text. One needs to
go to the end of this period and read another's observations, therefore, to
fully assess how things had continued to develop in the cutting shed and
gauged work.
Nicholson (1823, 384-9), in describing the tools and their use, empha-
sises how gauged work was now being reserved mainly for arches; hence his
emphasis on preparing voussoirs rather than mouldings. Several of the tools
Nicholson lists (except the brick axe, as it underwent a significant change)
are omitted here as they have already been given and their use described in
Chapter 3.
BEDDING STONE - A straight piece of marble used to try the rubbed side of a
brick.
This is an early reference to a 'bedding slate', a flat slab of marble for testing
the bedding of a cut and rubbed brick to ensure it is flat on its bed face and
follows exactly the shape of its templet. This became particularly important
once joints of 1-2 mm or less were being routinely employed on gauged work,
