Ever since those 'Fred Dibnah' the Bolton Steeplejack were on telly I have become fascinated with brickwork. Not that I am found staring at brick walls because this reflects on the excitement of my life, but the patterns revealed, the skill required and atrophy of mind are all involved. As I pedal up the old railway I pass a couple of bridges carrying roads over the line. This one served a farm or two and runs at an angle to the line. When you consider the skill required to build such an arch, let alone ensure it remains in place for over a hundred and fifty years, an admiration for these artisans grows. Bricklayers were one of the many groups of artisans that made full use of the 19th centuries desire to 'better oneself.' Gathering in groups they would pay a few pence a week into a kitty and when sick or short of work could draw a few shillings from the common purse. One near here went on to develop a brick making factory in the gravel pits opposite the railway station. Many houses were built from his bricks and he himself made this edifice from his own bricks and must have been quite important by the late Victorian age. Wasted as office space for far too many years this house once must have appeared a marvel to those who studied 'Self Help' books at the time.
Of course it was just as easy to lose everything overnight in those days and many did. The John Brown who owned 'Hollywood' leaves little trace that I can find but he achieved some success for a while at least. One other famous bricklayer was of course Winston Churchill! One of his 'rest cures' was to build walls in his house at Chartwell. The combination of creativity and a chance to rest the mind in the sun and inhaling fresh air and mortar did him good. He actually became a paid up member of a bricklayers union, and not many Conservative Prime Ministers could say that! Looking at the bridge I was interested at the manner in which the brick ends are forming such a delicate pattern. The skill shown in many bridges, walls, and especially expensive houses shows much taste. Today of course only multi millionaires could contemplate such brickwork, so we end up with plastic and concrete! Ah well, it could be worse I suppose.
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3 comments:
Amazing skill. A lost art, mostly.
A skew arch. Nice.
I have an old book, late 1800s, with a section for bricklayers and masons, showing how to set-out, draw, make formwork, cut brick shapes, and build all manner of complex shapes. I must go down to the "Dark Arches" in Leeds, some day and photograph the engineering marvels there.
Max, Indeed!
Soub, Interesting book that.
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