Has one ever considered the natural structure of many of the CARG Mansion Blocks or the centre piece of this celebrated area, Westminster Cathedral? The building bricks themselves. The buildings referred to primarily date from the mid-1880s until the First World War (1914) Carlisle 1882 &1888; Morpeth and Ashley Gardens 1890s; Francis Street 1913.
Simply put bricks are rectangular blocks formed from a mixture of clay and sand. Bricks made from sun-dried mud are estimated to date back 9,000 years first found at Jericho (West Bank on west side of River Jordan). Certainly, bricks were being used 6,000 years ago in Assyria, Babylonia and Egypt. From 3,500 BCE it had become commonplace for bricks to be fired. Kiln-fired bricks are much stronger and less prone to water damage. Bricks were a favoured building material for the Romans. Their bricks were thinner than modern bricks as these required less fuel to fire them. With the decline of the Western Roman Empire, outside of Italy, wood or stone became the preferred building materials. However, in the C11th use of brick reappeared in France, followed by northern Germany in the C12th and by the C13th it was prevalent once again throughout most of Europe.
In England bricks lagged behind being restricted to grand buildings. They became increasingly popular during the C17th and C18th only held back by the imposition, by George 111, of half-a-crown per ‘000 bricks in 1784 (to pay for his war efforts in America 1775-1783 (American Revolutionary War) and in Europe (Napoleonic Wars 1799-1815).
Originally bricks were hand made using a two-piece mould, but once the tax was abolished in 1850 machines were created to manufacture bricks. Two processes were employed pressing and wire-cutting from an extruded block of clay – these tended to have three core holes to assist with the lining up of the brick when laid on mortar. Even in modern times bricks are not all the same, varying in both colour and texture. Wire-cut bricks are normally used only for internal and unexposed walls, while ‘facing bricks’ on exposed wall should be of a higher quality than the common brick. Those bricks fired at a very high temperature have a vitrified, smooth, shiny surface, similar to the surfacing high-fired decorative, ceramic ware. Most bricks have a textured surface that absorbs light and gives a matt appearance.
The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood (read Westminster Cathedral!) was constructed between 1895 and 1903, on the site of the former Tothill Fields Bridewell prison. The land was acquired by the 2nd Archbishop Cardinal Manning (the first having been Cardinal Wiseman who had restored the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in England & Wales and had lived until 1865). Work began under the 3rd Archbishop Vaughan (1892-1903) who rejected the narrow Gothic style in favour of a
large interior space mirroring early Christian basilicas in Rome. The English ecclesiastical architect, John Francis Bentley (1839-1902) was commissioned. His design was a Byzantine Revival influenced by the early Byzantine cathedrals in Italy including St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice (built 829-836 as part of the Doge’s Palace and then largely rebuilt 1063-1094. Due to a cholera outbreak, in Istanbul, he was not able to visit Hagia Sophia in his journeys of 1894.
12.5 million hand -made bricks, produced by Thomas Lawrence of Bracknell, were involved in the Cathedral’s construction. Brick was chosen as it was readily available and significantly cheaper than stone. The budget was £150,000 (£23.88million at today’s prices). The money was only finally raised in full in 1910 and it was only then that the cathedral could be formally consecrated. No steel was used and concrete was limited to the four domes and the structural supports -pendentives. The striking exterior is made up of bands of red bricks vertically separated by areas of white marble. Because the bricks are narrower it gives an antique look to the building, while the white marble compliments the neo-byzantine structure. Interestingly the internal brickwork is visible at the higher level and is different to the red brickwork on the outside. These inner bricks are of a deep brown colour and are of the conventional modern size. The aspect as one looks upward is rather dismal and gives the impression of the interior being unfinished. Outside the red brick campanile, St. Edward’s bell tower, stands 284 feet high and is visible from far and wide.
Perhaps the last word on this phenomenal brick structure belongs to Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984 Poet Laureate from 1972) who called it “a masterpiece in striped brick and stone…the good craftsman has no need of steel or concrete.”
Credit: Claude Keith
Bibliography:-
‘Things that have interested me’ by Dr Robert Barber
Wikipedia
Westminster Cathedral press
