Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
This practice has been encountered on many occasions whilst repairing defec-
tive gauged work; and it is not reserved only for arches. On some ashlared wall-
ing the bricklayers would frequently rub more off the top and bottom beds
towards the back of each brick, so that, in taking an on-end view of the brick,
one finds some resemble a cone shape. The difference from the measurement
of the overall face gauge to the rear of some of these bricks can be as much as
10 mm (i.e. 5 mm) being rubbed off either bed. This bad practice is not con-
fined to English gauged work, but is seen also in Flanders and the Netherlands.
The loss of brick was typically made up with a trowel-applied mortar, to a stiffer
consistency, allowing the brick to be manipulated more easily to line and 'face
plane'. This was not a good practice, however, as it reduced the effective load-
bearing area, especially where there were voids or mortar shrinkage so con-
centrating it towards the front edges and leading to bulging and loss of overall
wall strength.
Gauged Niches
In thick walls of many mansions and public buildings, circular recesses, or niches,
were occasionally formed. A niche, from the Italian 'nicchio' meaning 'shell', was
usually semi-circular or semi-elliptical on plan and covered with a semi-dome of
the same character built in gauged brickwork. The origin of the niche is rather
obscure and though it is not uncommon to see them empty, there seems no
doubt that they were originally designed to house statues or other works of art.
A niche had little to do with the general stability of walling, as it was simply
decorative, yet it still had to be constructed carefully so that it did not weaken
the wall. The lower part of the niche is called the 'body' and its upper part, the
'hood' (Fig. 109).
The construction of a gauged brick niche, an area of the craft termed
'circle-on-circle', has always been considered to be one of the most artistic
pieces of work in connection with their craft and the supreme test of a brick-
layer's skill as a craftsman. It not only draws on excellence of manual dexter-
ity, but also sound knowledge and application of geometry. Without these
attributes it would be impossible to set-out, cut, and construct a niche.
It is in the design, execution, and finished appearance of the wonderful
specimens of gauged brickwork niches from the post-Restoration and early
Georgian periods that one determines the depth of the Dutch influence on
this branch of the craft. Amongst the early seventeenth-century 'gildeproeven'
masterpieces of 'geslepen metselwork' - gauged work in De Waag, Amsterdam
(see Chapter 2), are several fine examples of gauged niches. These are either
to be found as full-depth, or shallow-bodied niches, constructed of orange/red
rubbers and set in fine lime putty:silver sand mortars, with joints that range
from 0.5 to 2 mm in width.
 
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