Brick was then popularised in northern America and other English, Belgian, Dutch, French, Spanish and Portuguese territories, through early émigrés taking their masonry skills abroad. ![]() Other cities followed suit during the 18th century industrial revolution as bricks proved a hardy, enduring, cost effective, simple to construct, reliable, impervious, consistently dimensioned building unit protecting against damp air and wet ground conditions, especially after the invention of fast, mass manufacturing techniques. The exploration of new forms and manufacturing methods seen a return to popularity, combined with their increasingly popular reputation as a replacement to timber in densely populated cities in the 17th century, particularly London, due to their far superior fire retarding properties, following a spate of particularly serious, destructive urban fires that ripped through older timber building stock. Bricks were then regularly used in Europe from around the 12th century, when northern European countries traded materials, knowledge and design ideologies with Italy during the Gothic and Renaissance eras, spreading the use of Roman designs and construction methods, until dying out for a period due to bricks’ inability to recreate the intricate shapes of ornament and decoration associated with these styles. Clay bricks were used extensively throughout the Roman Empire thanks to the Romans’ invention of the mobile kiln, an innovation on the kiln used by ancient Egyptian builders to fire clay mixtures when placed in moulds, which enabled brick manufacture across Rome’s territories, using an increased range of local clay and soil compositions. With recorded uses dating back over 9000 years, brick traces its origins to mud and straw adobe blocks as found in Africa, southern Asian and southern American regions where hot, dry climates quickly dried and cured the earth bricks naturally in the heat. Being weaker than modern mortar, it is easier to remove from reclaimed bricks, simplifying the repurposing process to allow the bricks to be redeployed on new projects.īricks are one of the most common materials in architecture and construction. Lime mortar was commonly used with London stock bricks as it was the most abundantly and locally available bonding agent. London stock bricks became synonymous with the vernacular of Victorian era London architecture due to the abundance of locally sourced lime-based clay from the Thames Valley, and are often reclaimed from demolished buildings for new projects in the city, maintaining their popularity and widespread use. Stock simply refers to the brick being particularly commonly manufactured and used in a certain region. Reclaimed London stock bricks also tend to have coal spots or areas of discolouration, normally due to the atmospheric pollution from their use on buildings situated in heavily populated, vehicle-dense areas of the city. Sporting a slightly weathered appearance, which will help bed the material into its historic urban surroundings, it has a sand creased finish, which involves spraying sand onto the brick before it is fired, resulting in small ridges and shelves, creating a semi-rough, uneven, random texture much like a natural rock face, wave- or cloud-like formations. The excess moisture has created patches of different shades of yellows, oranges and reds, with air bubbles and other specs creating a textured surface. ![]() Black ‘coal spots’ are evident throughout this texture, likely a product of excess moisture, a result of sourcing the clay from in or near the river, appearing when the clay is fired in its mould. Distinctive and bold, the yellows are resultant from the chemicals in lime-based clays, which were common to and locally sourced from London and the surrounding Thames Valley area, turning creamy-yellow, sandy or golden when fired. London stock bricks are largely still handmade, using traditional techniques to exercise control over and replicate the surface finish and colours. London stock bricks possess a period appearance, emulating traditional London bricks with a fine buff-yellow base and authentic ‘coal spotted’ finish. The joints are filled with rough concrete and are 5 mm (0.2 inches) in width. The image represents a physical area of 2040 x 838 mm (80.3 x 33 inches) in total, with each individual unit measuring approximately 250 x 65 mm. ![]() A seamless brick texture with london stock brick arranged in a common pattern.
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