Tudor bricks

[Palustris]

I am in the process of clearing part of the foundations of a building which was built sometime around 1804 (found a new 1804 penny embedded in the lime mortar. Many of the bricks used are half the width of a modern brick. Where can I find out information on Tudor/Rgency bricks? We think some of them are re-used from an earlier building on the site.

[boxtops]

does this help? If you Google Tudor Bricks quite a lot comes up http://www.buildingco.../brick/brickwork.html

[DaisyNonna]

Try your local archaeological society or university department
Usually very helpful

[jno]

Regency was later; Tudor/Stuart/Queen Anne/Georgian maybe?

[Mosaic]

Just a thought.... a penny minted in 1804 could hav been on circulation until 1971. Seriously. So all you can say with certainty on the basis of the coin as evidence is that the layer it was in dates to some time after 1804, but not before. You can't be sure how long after, without further evidence.

[Hopkirk]

Let's see now

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=reclaimed+bricks

[Mosaic]

Bit harsh there, Hopkirk - the enquiry is really to do with quite a specialised, regional / local subject rather than a request to match bricks for further building. Local brickmaking was hugely important in creating the uniqueness of local areas, but the evidence of the brickworks is largely lost. Palustris can really only get accurate help from a museum, local archaeologist or local enthusiast who really knows their bricks.

Such people really do exist......but tracking them down might be difficult.

[Hopkirk]

I would have thought that a reclaimed building materials yard was a good starting point. They may not have the bricks, but may have the contacts or advice to assist.

[Palustris]

Thanks folks. Other evidence ie Local maps show that these houses existed in 1841 . The Tudor house disappeared sometime after 1640 ish as it is shown on one map but not on the next. The penny we found was shiny new so not likely to have been in circulation and the houses themselves fell down in the 1950's. The mortar used is lime mortar and the use of that went out in the mid 1800's.
What I am looking for is some indication of the dimensions on these ,lets call them. early bricks.
There are some which are definitely hand made and probably very local as the next field up from us is called Brick Kiln Field on the Parish maps.
Thanks again. It is proving very interesting.

[Mosaic]

You're doing some cracking good detective work. If it helps, houses up to the arrival of local canals, then railways, will definitely be made from local materials, so your brick is unlikely to have travelled far - unless your Tudor house was really on the scale of a palace. The only exceptions to this are 'ordinary' houses in port areas of the south east quarter of England, where bricks that came in as ballast in ships from Holland were often employed before the Tudor period, when bricks became more widely fashionable in England.
Are there any other buildings within a 5-mile or so radius that you could look at, as some might contain similar bricks and be datable. Seems a bit eccentric driving round with a brick in the glove compartment.....but it might add another bit of info.

[Palustris]

Brick size is 9 by 4 by just under 2 inches.

[jackthehat]

Whereabouts in the country are you ?

[Mosaic]

Palustris, I would associate a brick of those dimensions broadly with the type imported from the Low Countries before the Tudor Age, or with locally-made brick in the 1500 - 1600s. Later bricks are thicker - more like modern bricks in overall shape rather than these flatter sort.

[jake-the-peg]

Talk to SPAB

http://www.spab.org.u...nical-qa-2-brickwork/

They also have a help line if you have any problems with old buildings

[Palustris]

Jack the Hat. North West Shropshire'

Not sure they would have used imported bricks for rather small Farm workers cottages, so most likely they were locally made.
Finished digging the bit I needed to clear away. Interesting that they had used 'field stones' as part of the foundations. (Field stones here are glacial erratics left over after the last ice age when this area was covered in a huge lake.).

I have put the whole narrow bricks on one side to keep. Most of the stuff was broken, sadly. Also noticed that many of them were 'overfired' .

Thanks for every one who posted, it has been fascinating.

[sambod]

Brick Federation, Building Centre, English Heritage, National Trust and ? Historic Building Society, these concerns may be able to help. Good luck.