Charmer Lord Opti causes problems.....

[dave the builder]

Judging by the style and shape of those bricks are they late 19th century, around 1880?

Victorian soft red
Not my work
just a bit of brick porn to show i'm not a total caveman 

though I am a total caveman ,truth be told 

[ronnyd]

Damn sight better than what those two "ladies" were scrapping in front of.

[dave the builder]

Damn sight better than what those two "ladies" were scrapping in front of.

What "Ladies"    this thread is about bricks 
Oh ye , them women in the brickwork photo 

[Lizzie Zoom]

Judging by the style and shape of those bricks are they late 19th century, around 1880?

Victorian soft red
Not my work
just a bit of brick porn to show i'm not a total caveman 

though I am a total caveman ,truth be told 

Yes Dave bricks are very interesting in themselves, but I have looked at so many houses and other buildings from various periods of history. How they were used, and by whom (i.e. A builder constructing houses for the rich certainly performed differently, and used cheaper materials than when pushing up rows of working class terraces) tells a story in itself.  But it is amazing how so many of the Victorian and Ewardian terraces still survive. The advent of mechanised brick making in line with the Industrial Revolution meant a steady improvement in quality from the late 1800's, with quite good bricks emerging after 1900. But again that was dependant on costs and what the bricks were for.

As I touched on before, the Victorian engineering bricks are something to admire, and the quality of those can be witnessed in the still, strong and beautiful railway structures such as bridges, viaducts, and tunnels.  They were built to last. Of

When I was a child we lived close to the Highbooms Brick factory in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and my Great Auntie often took me for walks past the plant.  My recollection is that the bricks were all being produced on a production line, but very much by hand.  I cannot remember seeing any evidence of mechanisation apart from the tractor that took the completed stacks of bricks across the road to railway wagons sitting in a siding opposite.

Our house in Highbrooms was very much of the Victorian era, with the typical (rough) brickwork of that time.  I always assumed the bricks used were from the local brickworks, and indeed even the pavements of every street was constructed using these bricks.

Bricks I consider to always be far more pleasing and friendly compared to any concrete structure. When I visited Liverpool last year that was so strikingly the case when I compared the modern concrete constructed City Museum with the total brick built old warehouses around the Albert Dock area. They were so impressive, and of course it is great that they are being used fully for modern needs.  Whilst on the Mersey Ferry we were told that an old tobacco bonded warehouse we could see from the ship was being converted into a hotel. It was an amazingly large structure and apparently it was built from the largest number of bricks ever used in Britain.

But in summary it is so good to see so many Victorian and Edwardian brick built buildings being used for future needs, and must prove the worth of using that material versus the rather disgraced, blown, concrete structures of the 1960's and 70's that in so many cases have been torn down. With bricks you do not need cladding to beautify them as some idiots have decided to do with towers like Grenfell, with such disastrous results. Long live bricks I say  

[Bigron]

Just like Lego, they are so adaptable and are limited only by one's imagination.
You spoke of history, Lizzie, and on that archaeological programme, "Time Team" thay use unearthed bricks to date the buildings, Tudor bricks being different from Victorian, for instance.
Today's architectcts seem to have lost the plot: they seem to draw in straight lines too - no curves.
Oh, there are curves on that monstrosity, "The Gherkin" in London. What a piece of self-indulgence that is on the part of the up-himself architect.
Sorry for straying from the topic, but I type as I speak - randomly! 

Ron.

[Lizzie Zoom]

Just like Lego, they are so adaptable and are limited only by one's imagination.
You spoke of history, Lizzie, and on that archaeological programme, "Time Team" thay use unearthed bricks to date the buildings, Tudor bricks being different from Victorian, for instance.
Today's architectcts seem to have lost the plot: they seem to draw in straight lines too - no curves.
Oh, there are curves on that monstrosity, "The Gherkin" in London. What a piece of self-indulgence that is on the part of the up-himself architect.
Sorry for straying from the topic, but I type as I speak - randomly! 

Ron.

That's right.  How the bricks were made, and when, is very evident from the colours and shapes used so are a good way of dating a structure, or the remains of such**. You mention Tudor bricks; they were and are usually of a red colour, and are much flatter that later and modern bricks. They are typical of hand made bricks being of slightly differing dimensions.  A Tudor wall is unmistakeable, and of course is so different from the mud and hay walls, framed in timber, versions of typical (cheaper) built houses of those times, and before/after. The Tudor brick built structures were expensive, so relegated to the State and Monachy buildings. Henry VIII is famous for his passion in building expensive palaces, such as Hampton Court, all in brick.  He actually 'designed' many more that were never built due to cost implications.  In fact our dear Henry was spending English funds like water!

** This also applies to masonry, with the way they were chiselled and shaped giving those who know these things information on who the stone mason was, when the masonry was formed and where it went in the building structure.

[Bigron]

Just like Lego, they are so adaptable and are limited only by one's imagination.
You spoke of history, Lizzie, and on that archaeological programme, "Time Team" thay use unearthed bricks to date the buildings, Tudor bricks being different from Victorian, for instance.
Today's architectcts seem to have lost the plot: they seem to draw in straight lines too - no curves.
Oh, there are curves on that monstrosity, "The Gherkin" in London. What a piece of self-indulgence that is on the part of the up-himself architect.
Sorry for straying from the topic, but I type as I speak - randomly! 

Ron.

That's right.  How the bricks were made, and when, is very evident from the colours and shapes used so are a good way of dating a structure, or the remains of such.  You mention Tudor bricks; they were and are usually of a red colour, and are much flatter that later and modern bricks. They are typical of hand made bricks being of slightly differing dimensions.  A Tudor wall is unmistakeable, and of course is so different from the mud and hay walls, framed in timber, versions of typical (cheaper) built houses of those times, and before/after. The Tudor brick built structures were expensive, so relegated to the State and Monachy buildings. Henry VIII is famous for his passion in building expensive palaces, such as Hampton Court, all in brick.  He actually 'designed' many more that were never built due to cost implications.  In fact our dear Henry was spending English funds like water!

And now that mantle has been taken over by our governments and councils! 

Ron.

[Lizzie Zoom]

Just like Lego, they are so adaptable and are limited only by one's imagination.
You spoke of history, Lizzie, and on that archaeological programme, "Time Team" thay use unearthed bricks to date the buildings, Tudor bricks being different from Victorian, for instance.
Today's architectcts seem to have lost the plot: they seem to draw in straight lines too - no curves.
Oh, there are curves on that monstrosity, "The Gherkin" in London. What a piece of self-indulgence that is on the part of the up-himself architect.
Sorry for straying from the topic, but I type as I speak - randomly! 

Ron.

That's right.  How the bricks were made, and when, is very evident from the colours and shapes used so are a good way of dating a structure, or the remains of such.  You mention Tudor bricks; they were and are usually of a red colour, and are much flatter that later and modern bricks. They are typical of hand made bricks being of slightly differing dimensions.  A Tudor wall is unmistakeable, and of course is so different from the mud and hay walls, framed in timber, versions of typical (cheaper) built houses of those times, and before/after. The Tudor brick built structures were expensive, so relegated to the State and Monachy buildings. Henry VIII is famous for his passion in building expensive palaces, such as Hampton Court, all in brick.  He actually 'designed' many more that were never built due to cost implications.  In fact our dear Henry was spending English funds like water!

And now that mantle has been taken over by our governments and councils! 

Ron.

Oh no Ron, dear Henry was far worse than and, as an absolute monach, his spending had no restraint on it apart from how little was left in the coffers. But even then he would demand more funds /taxes from his Lords.  In fact when Elizabeth I was crowned England was effectively bankrupt, and our Lizzie had to work bloody hard, and 'buy' diplomatic time to build up the nations wealth and navy before Spain attacked as she knew they surely would, and did in 1588.

I would also add to my previous post, that only a few very wealthy Members of the acristocracy also built very large stately homes out of Tudor bricks, but that was frequently done to encourage Henry, and later Elizabeth, to stay in their homes to encourage 'favours' from the monach.

[dave the builder]

But in summary it is so good to see so many Victorian and Edwardian brick built buildings being used for future needs, and must prove the worth of using that material versus the rather disgraced, blown, concrete structures of the 1960's and 70's that in so many cases have been torn down. With bricks you do not need cladding to beautify them as some idiots have decided to do with towers like Grenfell, with such disastrous results. Long live bricks I say  

cladding was about energy efficiency to keep in-line with eu and saving energy ,as well as cosmetics
it needs to get pretty hot for bricks to burn though 


Our local fire station has just been demolished (Swadlincote, Derbyshire)
No great loss , a fairly ugly 70's building ,being replaced with probably an uglier metal can building
Behind the station WAS the remains of swad train station's platform ,(an old branch line being removed long ago)
a wall some 3' high , 40 foot long ,blue engineering brick with some custom made 9" x 18" diamond pattern toppers that was the platform edge , never seen them before ....
and will never see them again
they've ripped em all out (no doubt one of the local councilors has a new garden feature )
replaced with modern blockwork
so much for preserving local history 

Today's architectcts seem to have lost the plot: they seem to draw in straight lines too - no curves.
Oh, there are curves on that monstrosity, "The Gherkin" in London. What a piece of self-indulgence that is on the part of the up-himself architect.
Sorry for straying from the topic, but I type as I speak - randomly! 

Ron.

bit late for doing anything about "straying from the topic" I think 

[Lizzie Zoom]

But in summary it is so good to see so many Victorian and Edwardian brick built buildings being used for future needs, and must prove the worth of using that material versus the rather disgraced, blown, concrete structures of the 1960's and 70's that in so many cases have been torn down. With bricks you do not need cladding to beautify them as some idiots have decided to do with towers like Grenfell, with such disastrous results. Long live bricks I say  

cladding was about energy efficiency to keep in-line with eu and saving energy ,as well as cosmetics
it needs to get pretty hot for bricks to burn though 


Our local fire station has just been demolished (Swadlincote, Derbyshire)
No great loss , a fairly ugly 70's building ,being replaced with probably an uglier metal can building
Behind the station WAS the remains of swad train station's platform ,(an old branch line being removed long ago)
a wall some 3' high , 40 foot long ,blue engineering brick with some custom made 9" x 18" diamond pattern toppers that was the platform edge , never seen them before ....
and will never see them again
they've ripped em all out (no doubt one of the local councilors has a new garden feature )
replaced with modern blockwork
so much for preserving local history 

Today's architectcts seem to have lost the plot: they seem to draw in straight lines too - no curves.
Oh, there are curves on that monstrosity, "The Gherkin" in London. What a piece of self-indulgence that is on the part of the up-himself architect.
Sorry for straying from the topic, but I type as I speak - randomly! 

Ron.

bit late for doing anything about "straying from the topic" I think 

Now that is criminal . Some councils are so stupid, short sighted, and maybe corrupt in not protecting such history.

[Doctor Gollum]

They neither know, nor care... Much like the two delights at the start of the thread

[Viral_Jim]

Interesting talking about bricks. The front wall of our house is rather grand looking in the very very regular bricks and tight mortar gaps (5-8mm). The other walls are much rougher and very much akin to the workers' terraces that sit behind us. Clearly the family who had this place done wanted to portray a wealth they did not possess.

The trend continues inside, the two reception rooms where guests would have been, along with the hallway has rather lovely coving amd ceiling roses (clearly added later as electric lighting wasn't available in Kidderminster when this house was built). But the other rooms are much less grand and even lose about 8" in ceiling height when you get away from the "posh rooms". 

This all ties very well to our knowledge of who had the house built. He was a senior engineer at one of the carpet mills. So certainly wealthy, but to have this place built in the day must have cost an absolute fortune.

[dave the builder]

They neither know, nor care... Much like the two delights at the start of the thread

Nice try 

But I don't see this thread getting back on topic any time soon   

Interesting talking about bricks. The front wall of our house is rather grand looking in the very very regular bricks and tight mortar gaps (5-8mm). The other walls are much rougher and very much akin to the workers' terraces that sit behind us. Clearly the family who had this place done wanted to portray a wealth they did not possess.

The trend continues inside, the two reception rooms where guests would have been, along with the hallway has rather lovely coving amd ceiling roses (clearly added later as electric lighting wasn't available in Kidderminster when this house was built). But the other rooms are much less grand and even lose about 8" in ceiling height when you get away from the "posh rooms". 

This all ties very well to our knowledge of who had the house built. He was a senior engineer at one of the carpet mills. So certainly wealthy, but to have this place built in the day must have cost an absolute fortune.

We have nice uniform bricks ,stone lintels  & ledges at the front (1887)
the sides and rear are much rougher bricks ,brick arches above windows and cants     (google it but get the spelling right    ) as window ledges

I guess the modern version is "2 cars on the drive but F all in the fridge " all about show 

I was fortunate when I rebuilt the kitchen , next door knocked there's down and rebuilt it in easy to lay modern bricks
which left a couple of thousand period ,perfect match wire cut imperial bricks in skips next door
I had a word , said that i will "help them out ,take the old bricks out the skip , saving them skip costs" 
(plus wire cuts are a minimum 50p each + delivery  +vat , even for rough ones ),

[biggriffin]

Our lord Opti, uses bricks to sterilise any workmen interfering with his wenchs,on the estate.

[Viral_Jim]

Probably my least favourite job on this place was cleaning up about 600 bricks so they could be used in our dwarf retaining wall in the garden, along with a couple of hundred blue pavers to top it. To clean up a whole extension's worth must have taken chuffin ages! 

Ours is again similar, although rather than cants, at the back we have  shaped terracotta "nosing bricks" (100% not the right term I know).