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1
Introduction
This essay aims to briefly examine the mechanisms of how brick making arrived in Englandand to describe the manufacturing process from documentary and archaeological evidencefrom a selected number of sites. Furthermore, the scale of production and usage of the endproduct will be looked at.
Bricks before the Middle Ages
The Romans spread the skill of brick making throughout their empire during the earlycenturies AD (Warren 1999, 7) and it soon became general as a building material in theRoman areas of the Britain Isles (Smith 1985, 2). The Roman bricks varied in dimensions butthey were usually large and flat (Salzman 1952, 140), ranging from 2.8 to 4.2 cm in thickness(Potter 2001, 122).Following the 5
th
century, the manufacturing of bricks became less common, arguably non-existing. Potter (2001, 122) writes “
No real attempt appears to have been made to elaborate fully upon the differences between the Roman and the much later materials, although a timegap in order of 700 years probably exists between the manufacture of the two products
”.Questions about brick making during this gap do exist and some authors point to 10
th
centuryglazed wall-tiles from Winchester as evidence for some, if only small-scale, Englishproduction before the 12
th
century (Jope 1964, 113).However, the reuse of Roman bricks was extensive during the early Middle Ages in Anglo-Saxon and Norman structures. Potter (2001) examined the evidence for reuse in ecclesiasticalbuildings throughout the London Basin. In 309 churches, evidence of Roman bricks werefound and in 100 of these the bricks were used in some form of structural capacity and werenot fragmentary (Potter 2001, 126). Examples of reuse can be seen in St. Pancras Church inCanterbury, Kent, where the bricks undoubtedly were of Roman origin and St. Albans Abbeyin Hertfordshire. The latter was built in close proximity to the great Roman city of Verulamium which would have provided plenty material (Smith 1985, 2), and the abbot issaid to have “
built of brickwork the whole church
” (Salzman 1952, 140).A change in building techniques has been recorded in Essex during the 12
th
century; from thereuse of bricks to other materials. According to Drury (1981, 126) this is connected to anexhausted supply of Roman bricks in the area.
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Coggeshall Abbey and the origin of the early bricks
The Coggeshall Abbey brick is seen as one of the earliest English bricks. They occur in 16churches (
Fig. 1
) over a 300 square kilometre area centred on Coggeshall Abbey, Colchester(Drury 1981, 127). The abbey was founded in 1140 and was the last founded house of theSavignac in England. The order collapsed seven years later and the abbey was transferred toCiteaux and the Cistercians (Gardner 1955, 19).
Fig. 1.
Distribution of Coggeshall Abbey brick around Colchester (Drury 1981, 126).Three main phases of construction were identified by Gardner, who lead the excavations inthe 1950’s, which have been used to group the types of bricks (
Fig. 2
). By 1167 the churchwas ready for use and the cloister and chapter house as well as the infirmary (
ibid
. 25) arethought to also be part of the pre-1168 group of buildings. Segmental bricks for roundedcolumns were used in the church and smaller rectangular bricks (7 in. x 3 in. x 2 in.) wereused in a grave in the cloister and chapter house (
ibid
. 24).The second phase has been given a date of
c
. 1190 (
Fig. 2B
). The guest house (
ibid
. 26) andthe abbot’s lodging (
ibid
. 27) are thought to have been constructed during this phase. Severaltypes of bricks were used, including one of diamond-shape. Bricks from the quoins and fromthe door fittings in the guest house have the dimensions of 13 in. x 6 in. x 2 in. This size wasthe most frequently used in the early buildings but bricks were also moulded to suit specialpurposes (
ibid
. 26).
3
Fig. 2.
The Coggeshall Abbey brick groups. (A) Pre 1167, (B)
c
. 1190 and (C)
c.
1220(modified after Gardner 1955, Plate XIII).During the third phase,
c
. 1220, the latest of the Abbey buildings were constructed, includingthe gatehouse chapel. At this stage in time, roll-moulded bricks and mullions had replaced thediamond-shaped brick (
Fig. 2C
) and bricks with hollow moulding and glazed wall tiles werealso used (
ibid
. 29).Unfortunately, there is no direct archaeological evidence for a kiln at the site. The district onthe outskirts of Coggeshall is called Tilkey and Gardner suggests that the name derives from‘tile-kiln’. An old kiln was destroyed in the area in the mid 19
th
century with bricks like thoseof the abbey in the nearby vicinity (
ibid
. 31). However, there is doubt of the date of this kiln(Drury 1981, 139).