Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Funtley) where the railway arrived in 1841 so providing valuable access to
London by way of Eastleigh.
There is little doubt that the Fareham Red was considered a premium rub-
ber during all of the Victorian period, as Walker (1885, 1761) emphasises:
Fareham rubbers for gauged-work also stand first in quality, though they are not
extensively used, as they are dearer than the other varieties in the market.
Of red bricks Fareham Rubbers are the best; they are of a close, firm texture, will
carry a sharp arris, and weather well; in colour they are cherry red.
The phrase 'carry a sharp arris' is worthy of greater exploration, as its mean-
ing is frequently overlooked. Historic rubbers, dating from the fifteenth to the
nineteenth centuries, are seen to be of close-textured body when cut. Most are
easily cut and rubbed to give sharp arrises that will hold; directly as a conse-
quence of their integral material and manner of manufacture.
By 1860 excellent rail access existed eastwards too along the south coast
to Brighton and the 'Direct route of Portsmouth to London via Guilford'.
According to Cox (2002):
…in the 1860s and 1870s that 'Fareham Reds' came to prominence, to such an
extent that Sir John Summerson suggests that 'Fareham Reds' seem to have been
among the factors responsible for the change in the colour of London streets
from brown to red in the 1870s. This type of brick was produced by William
Cawte … listed [in the 1860s] at Furze Hall, Fareham, as a brick and tile maker.
On the subject of brick prices,
The Building News
of 8th March 1872, records
(1872, 189):
Fareham Red Rubbing and Facing Bricks. - Price of the facing bricks in London is
63s. a thousand, 49s. Loaded in trucks at Fareham. Red Rubbers, £6 per thousand.
At about this time, Cox (A Cox, 2002) records:
…Cawte supplied Fareham Reds for two other major London public buildings.
In 1871 he opened a new field adjoining his existing one … to manufacture the
25 million bricks used in the construction of St Thomas's Hospital. And although
G.E. Street's Law Courts (1874-82) is stone-faced to the Strand, Fareham Reds
were amongst the large quantity of bricks employed throughout the building.
Fareham Reds were quickly taken up for more modest buildings in London. In
1873 the architect Richard Norman Shaw used cut and gauged Fareham Reds for
the front of the offices in Leadenhall Street, in the City. He again used them for
the Queen Anne Style Clock House, No. 8 Chelsea Embankment.
