 |
| Bricks and tiles on Copse Hill |
Leaving Cannizaro Park, I continued my walk along the side of Wimbledon Common to Crooked Billet - a triangular green named after the public house that has occupied an early C18 house for more than 250 years, with other much altered later C18 houses built around it.
 |
| An 1865 map of Crooked Billet |
With a family dinnerarranged for later that Sunday afternoon, to celebrate my mother’s 91st birthday, I resisted the temptation to pop in for a pint here or the adjacent Hand in Hand and instead stopped to have a quick look at the front elevation at the hall of King’s College School – built in 1899 by Sir Banister Fletcher Junior.
 |
| The north elevation of the hall of King's College School |
I had always thought that this was a church, when I had been driven past it several times when staying with my brother, and the very brief Historic England listing describes it as having dressings made in a cream coloured stone, which is presumably Bath Stone.
 |
| A view of Southside House |
A little further along Woodhayes Road, I could just get a glimpse of the front elevation of Southside House, dated 1687, where the main facade of this substantial house is built in plum stock bricks, with soft red brick dressings.
 |
| Porters Lodge at King's College School |
Adjoining Southside House is Porter’s Lodge at King’s College School, which is built with red brick and plain tiles in the Arts and Crafts style, which developed in the second half of the C19. Turning round and looking down Crooked Billet there are further examples of later C19 red brick houses, with yellow London stock bricks and red brick dressings used for the older houses.
 |
| Crooked Billet |
When working in the building restoration industry in London, where I applied my geological training to develop specialist skills in ‘stone identification and matching’, I also came across several varieties of brick: the ubiquitous yellow London stock, the mottled plum stock, soft red bricks for dressings, red rubbers for gauged arches and the pale yellow Gault bricks from Cambridgeshire.
 |
| Crooked Billet |
Although knowing that the geology and chemistry of the clays largely control the general colour and textures of the brick, having seen many regional varieties of brickwork in England, I have never investigated the brick industry in the same way that I have with building stone.
 |
| Crooked Billet |
It was therefore a very interesting experience, as a geologist and former building restoration contractor, to see the changes in the pattern of the brickwork used in the buildings of progressively younger ages – with materials being brought in from further afield as the manufacturing and transport systems improve.
 |
| King' College School |
Until the late 18th century, the manufacture of fired clay brick in England was largely carried out by itinerant artisan brickmakers, using locally available clays to produce small quantities of bricks and tiles, generally for relatively high-status buildings being constructed close by.
During my brief exploration of Caesar’s Camp and Wimbledon Common, earlier in the morning, I had encountered a lot of Quaternary gravel that covers the underlying Claygate Member bedrock - comprising sand, silt and clay and together - which together form the heathland plateau that rises from the lowland London Clay.
 |
| An extract from the 1921 Memoir |
In the 1921 Memoir for the Geology of South London, the brickearths of the Quaternary aeolian deposit now known as the Langley Silt Member are described in some detail, with the nearest outcrops of this being found at Twickenham and Kingston upon Thames. It also highlights various pits dug into the London Clay in South London, as well as those exploiting the Claygate Beds.
 |
| A description of brick pits in the London Clay |
Continuing down Woodhayes Lane to the junction with Ridgway, I stopped to have a very quick look at the exterior of Christ Church and headed off down Copse Hill, which is formed by a small outlier of the Bagshot Formation – the bedrock that overlies the Claygate Member.
 |
| The bedrock around Wimbledon Common |
The Bagshot Formation forms a distinct narrow ridge, with the ground falling steeply down to either side, which has three large pairs of large mid C19 semi-detached, Italianate style houses on its southern side. When driving past them, I have always thought that the pale yellow brickwork, which stands out from the surrounding houses, is an example of Gault brick.
Passing a few other buildings of no great interest, I made my way down to the bottom of Copse Hill, stopping only to photograph a further example of London yellow stock bricks with red stock brick dressings, this time being part of a small Edwardian development of terrace houses forming Thurstan Road.
 |
| Houses at Thurstan Road |
No comments:
Post a Comment