Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
these were rubbed smooth, on the rubbing stone, it was achieved with mini-
mum effort and produced sharp arrises on each brick. This, despite the obvi-
ous fact that they came from different regions of the country and were made
from various types of brickearths or clays worked within a reasonable distance
from their host building.
One can conclude this point by bearing in mind the overriding pragmatic
approach contemporary bricklayers would have taken whilst selecting bricks
for hewing and rubbing. By experience of the feel and appearance of the
brick, they would know instinctively the one suitable for that purpose. They
would not have known, nor cared about the geological age of the raw mater-
ial, whether clay or brickearth, or the levels of internal silica. Their only care
would have been that the brick was well-baked, had a consistent body, could
be easily abraded, and worked to shape as they desired, to reflect positively on
their craftsmanship within the built enrichment.
Skilled bricklayers executing the cutting and rubbing of bricks were termed
'hewers' ('hewyers'). Like the masons this work would have been carried out
in a temporary shelter, with a thatched roof termed a lodge, which later brick-
layers came to call the 'cutting shed'. This would be erected to stand for the
duration of building work to allow for setting out drawings, establishing tem-
plets and the necessary cut and rubbed work, and dismantled upon comple-
tion. Study of contemporary accounts shows that hewing bricks to the various
shapes required was an activity frequently programmed for the winter months,
when bricklaying operations ceased due to concerns for frost damage with
slow-setting, moisture retentive, lime mortars. As Moore (1991, 235) states,
'Some brick-hewing was paid for during the winter months by weekly wage or
by the week in gross'. Study of the Kirby Muxloe accounts indicate different
rates were paid per thousand hewn bricks, such as 5s. per thousand in October
1482, yet only 1s. 6d. per thousand, when 26,000 bricks were hewn in March
through April 1483. This was not only reflecting the difficulty of the mould-
ings to be cut and rubbed, but also whether a higher paid master craftsman
was employed on the hewing work. According to Salzman (1967, 45), the
Westminster accounts of 1530 record:
…the hewyng of 50 tunnells (shafts) in bryke for chimnes and ventes for jaxys
( jakes or latrines) which hath byn hewen this wynter by taske.
The accounts for Kirby Muxloe Castle (Leicestershire) for the week commen-
cing Monday, 30th December 1482 (Hamilton-Thompson, 1920, 296) records
the 'brekeleyers' working during the winter as:
Breekehewers - Peter Corbell. Maligoo, Dalle, Mylner, Ruddicowrt, Bruston, 5 days
at 2s 6d
12s 6d.
