Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
prosperous corporations, guilds, and merchants, utilising the very best materials
and the finest of craftsmen as an outward display of their vast wealth. The erec-
tion of masonry in the Low Countries using stone pre-dated the re-introduction
of brick in the late twelfth century, but was difficult because there was only a
limited supply of natural stone in Flanders. Most was imported, with a limited
supply of soft limonite from the south Flemish hills and sandstone from Artesia.
This made stone available only for the very rich to build with. Even today, a per-
son in Flanders with a large fortune is considered to be 'stone-rich'.
Much of Flanders forms part of a sand-loam area that is geographically
highly morphous with a grey green, rather sandy clay, forming a subsoil over
almost all the entire region to a depth of 120 m. Such clay was perfect for the
exploitation and production of good quality bricks. It was only natural, there-
fore, that brick should become the ubiquitous material for structural and,
later, ornamental masonry. The inland clays produce a pale orange/red brick
whilst the wider deposits of the calcium-bearing coastal polder clay produces
a pale buff-coloured brick, not unlike stone in hue that yielded a smaller con-
trast between brick and mortar joint which was deemed perfect for masonry
enrichment. There are beautiful examples of cut and rubbed and early gauged
work to be seen in several of the major towns and cities of the Flemish parts of
modern-day Belgium such as Brugge, Poperinge and Veurne etc.
The buff-coloured bricks are harder than the rubbing bricks, and therefore
the Flemish craftsmen also used, and still use, masons tools and techniques to
cut and shape them. This raises concerns among some observers that they are
too hard to hew and that one is removing the protective fireskin, leaving them
open to decay through frost damage, despite hundreds of years of evidence of
their successful use on cut and rubbed work to be seen across Flanders. Firstly
these bricks, similar to rubbers, have no fireskin as they were not fired at a
temperature sufficiently high enough (950°C, 1,742°F
) to form one and sec-
ondly the strength, or hardness of clay bricks are not indicators of their abili-
ties to be frost resistant. As Mike Hammett (2004) states:
Some low-fired bricks of modest strength (7-20 N/mm
2
) and high water absorp-
tion (20%-30%) have excellent resistance to damage by frost action…There
is no dependable correlation between strength and water absorption and frost
resistance.
Brugge
The majority of brick buildings of Brugge are built in the Gothic architecture.
There are, however, some examples of Renaissance-styled building, but it was
never popular in Brugge, or Flanders, although a unique highly ornamental
style of Flemish Renaissance developed gradually. Gothic was always fashionable
