Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 4
Cut and rubbed
window detailing to the
gatehouse Layer Marney
(Essex), 1520.
of the bricklayer in England, as it slowly but surely emerged from behind the
influence of the powerful stonemasons who held almost reverential control
over the design and construction of medieval masonry.
The catalyst for this change was foreign and due in large measure to 'alien'
brickmakers and bricklayers from the Low Countries, who brought a high
level of craft skills and technical knowledge. This influence began to make its
presence felt in the improved quality of bricks, more consistent in shape and
quality, as well as in their application in terms of structural bonding, decora-
tive patterning and ornamental articulation, which raised English brickwork to
unprecedented levels of sophistication. It is particularly in the skills of working
bricks, post-fired, for structural and ornamental brickwork that these advanced
levels of craftsmanship and the Flemish influence are truly witnessed.
The introduction of foreign craftsmen, and along with it high-quality brick-
work, as Moore (1991, 214) suggests appears to date from:
The introduction of high-quality work and foreign craftsmen appears to date
…shortly after 1410, the earliest surviving building to combine them being the
chapel tower at Stonor Park (Oxon.) with its diapering and moulded brick cor-
belling, under construction by Michael Warrewyk and his Flemings in 1416-17.
One can identify these as 'Flemynges' or 'Dochemen' (Dutchman or
Deutchman) by their names. For example, 'Henry Sondergyltes, Brykeman',
who was employed by the wardens of London Bridge in 1418; 'William
Vesey', employed by the Crown in the 1430s (Wight, 1972, 22); and 'Baldwin
