Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
highly ornate circular finials, 'topstucks' form accurate geometrical shapes. It
has been possible to determine, through archival research, the names of the
most significant Flemish 'meester metselars' (master bricklayers) who worked
as 'staad metselars' (town bricklayers), who worked primarily in Brugge (e.g.
Jan van Oudernaerde, Govaert Cowwe, Ferry Aerts). Although it is felt that all
of these master bricklayers remained in Flanders, it is quite possible that some
could have worked in England at some point in their working life. Historians
and archivists with the Flemish heritage authority, Monumentenzorg, however,
do not think that their great masters, or indeed even their first-class Flemish
bricklayers, ever came to England to work in the fifteenth century. This is
because they were in very great demand at home, and extremely well paid and
secure in their employment. It is the opinion of modern Flemish historians
that only 'journeymen' bricklayers, still skilled in 'bewerkte baksteenen' (but
not top masters), would have come to work in England. This is possibly why so
much Flemish brickwork of this period is a long way ahead, in terms of style,
finishing and overall quality, to that being achieved in England at that time.
Verschelde (1871, 5-21) provides the 51 detailed articles for the Brugge
Guild of Bricklayers for the first half of the sixteenth century. It reveals that
only fifteen-year-old middle-class boys, whose parents could finance their train-
ing over a four-year apprenticeship period, could be accepted. At the end of
their apprenticeship they would have to produce their 'proefstucken' or mas-
terpiece in front of two competent masters. The rules laid down the choice of
three masterpieces - two difficult ornate styles of doorway or an ornate win-
dow, in the construction of which the apprentices would have to demonstrate
skills in 'bewerkte baksteenen' or as termed in England, 'cut and rubbed brick-
work'. The articles state that although a mason had to draw the design for his
masterpiece, it was not compulsory for a bricklayer; yet it acknowledges that,
the best bricklayers were also good draughtsmen.
Poperinge
Unlike nearby leper (Ypres), Poperinge, a former Hanse town, virtually
escaped bomb damage in the First World War that destroyed numerous his-
toric buildings in West Flanders, due to its position just in front of the con-
flict; hence the choice of 'Talbot House' as the original 'Toc H'. Although not
fifteenth-century work, number 71, Gasthuisstraat (1579) is worthy of study as
it helps to show the on-going influence and quality of Flemish post-fired worked
brickwork (Fig. 6). The main building is constructed of buff-coloured coastal
bricks, of a relatively fine calcareous body, laid in English Cross (or Dutch)
bond with mortar joints of 5-10 mm. The large central brick doorway, designed
in the regional Renaissance style, is a fine example of early gauged brickwork.
The same bricks are used for the main walling, but the whole manner of the
