posted 03-11-99 04:06 PM
There were two main sources for bricks. Firstly Roman bricks were reused (as at Colchester Castle), secondly the art of brick making was regained in the early medieval period and bricks were made from locally dug clay fired with local fire wood. In areas where clay was not available bricks are very uncommen.Bricks were handmade on, or very close to, the building site in wood fired clumps of a few thousand at a time. This resulted in about 10% of bricks being overfired and black in colour and these darker bricks were often used in decorative patterns within walls. (The 10% of underfired bricks were hidden within the walls or used as rubble infill). Different areas had different quality of clay which effected the quality and colour of the resulting bricks (ie many medieval bricks have small pebbles in them). To achieve a brick that was fired through bricks tended to be thinner than modern bricks although often longer in length.
The morter for bricks or stone walls was also made on site by heating limestone (or chalk) in a temporary kiln (a pit in the ground roofed over with brick, stone or turf). These pits often survive on castle sites
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Castle Quest
posted 03-10-99 02:19 PM
