Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
and along the surface of the brick, the resultant dust sits between the timber
and the brick serving as an additional abrasive too.
Summary
The Medieval and Tudor periods witnessed brickwork firmly establishing itself
as a rival to stonework for the masonry of properties belonging to aristocrats
and wealthy landed gentry. Through foreign influence, and primarily that of
the highly skilled immigrant Flemish bricklayers, the best of these men estab-
lished post-fired working of bricks (primarily using brick axes, hand-saws,
appropriate mason's tools and abrasives), began to rival the work of the stone-
mason on late Gothic enrichments. The craft practices that developed sub-
sequently were the culmination of vernacular traditions dictated by available
materials, budget, and time constraints imposed on the project, and the all-
important levels of skill, knowledge, and ingenuity that individual craftsmen
imparted to their work.
Case Study: Repairs to Axed Work at Kirby Muxloe Castle
(1480-84), Leicestershire, England
Background to Project
By Nick Hill, Project Director, English Heritage
Constructed in the closing years of the Middle Ages, Kirby Muxloe Castle is
one of the finest brick buildings of its period. It was built for Lord Hastings, a
prominent supporter of Edward IV, in 1480-84. However, the castle was never
completed, as Hastings was executed on the accession of Richard III in June
1483, and building work stopped soon afterwards.
The castle was planned as a rectangle, with square towers at the four angles
and a gatehouse in the middle of the north-west side. Only the west tower and
the gatehouse survive, together with the main moat walls. The west tower still
stands to its full height, an impressive crenellated structure. An oak bridge over
the wide moat approaches the massive gatehouse, its drawbridge protected by
gunports to give flanking fire; some of the earliest in the country (Fig. 26).
Almost the whole of the structure is built of brick, with stone used only for
the surrounds to principal doorways and windows, together with stringcourses
and copings. Brick was used only for buildings of the highest status at this
date, and Kirby Muxloe is Leicestershire's earliest surviving brick building.
The brickwork craftsmanship is of superb quality, with shaped bricks used in a
wide variety of ways, for angled corners, splayed and moulded openings, chim-
neys and - most impressively - vaulting to spiral stairways. Complex patterns
