Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
gauged work was not just conservative practice in the cutting-shed, but due
to its fall from fashion in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century as
Pasley (1826, 221-2) indicates:
Formerly it was customary to have ornamental fronts of brickwork, which were
prepared by cutting and rubbing the bricks, and when it was the fashion to build
with red bricks, the ornamental parts were usually of a deeper red than the rest
of the wall, and the bricks selected for this purpose bore a higher price, and were
termed red rubbers.
In this manner, brick pilasters, with friezes, &c., were made, and it was also cus-
tomary to rusticate brick piers, or the coins of buildings.… In the present day, the
practice of using brick ornaments of this description is almost obsolete, …
The large brick axe still remained the main cutting tool and studying Pasley's
description (point 13) it is evidently the large axe detailed in Chapter 4. Study
of the membership certificate of the Operative Society of Bricklayers for 1863
and their emblem of 1869, both by A.J. Waudby, one sees the brick axe repre-
sented several times.
In the 1863 certificate it can be seen on the coat of arms held above the
shield and amongst a collection of the bricklayer's tools at the bottom. It is to
be seen in the depiction of the cutting-shed, incorrectly spelt Guage [gauge]
Work, where it leans against the chopping block where the cutter works a brick
(Fig. 125). In the later 1869 depiction of the cutting-shed two craftsmen are
shown at work cutting Gothic arches, one at the rubbing stone and the other
at the chopping block. In all of these pictures one can truly assess the size of
the large brick axe in contrast, not only to the other tools, but also to these
craftsmen (Fig. 126). This size is further emphasised within the drawing of the
coat of arms in the 1869 certificate in which it can be clearly seen held aloft in
the hand.
During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century another of the
dramatic changes, as a result of the Industrial revolution and growth of mech-
anisation, was the emergence of specialist tool factories gradually replac-
ing individual handcrafted tools forged by the builder's own blacksmiths.
Toolmakers from Birmingham and Sheffield began to make and advertise
high-quality craft tools in their pattern topics, such as in the plate from that
of R. Timmins and Sons of Birmingham, engraved c .1820 showing an itemised
plate with the large brick axe for sale (Fig. 127). This 'Brick Axe' being sold
at 8 pence per LB; weight being an important factor in its downward impul-
sion and clean cleaving of rubbing bricks without undue effort, as described
earlier.
The Waudby depictions of a cutting-shed are of singular interest as they pro-
vide a rare glimpse into this normally secretive workplace. Also one can see
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