THE HISTORY OF BRICKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18551, 8 November 1923, Page 13

THE HISTORY OF BRICKS.

GREAT WALL OF CHINA. In the course of a lecture on " Bricks," delivered at the Northern Polytechnic. Institute, Hoilovvay, England, Mr. Arthur H. Browne spoke of the Great Wall of China, 1250 miles lon£ and 22ft. high, which was builC 2000 years ago of burned and unburned bricks. The ancient Greeks did not use bricks much, but the Romans made considerable quantities up to the end of the fourth century. They then lost the art, and until the middle of the thirteenth century, few were , made, if any, on the Continent of Eur- ! ope. " • J The Romans introduced brickwork into i England about the fifth century, an ex- j apple of their work still remaining in Holy Trinity, Colchester. Until the thirteenth cvgrthmhuk» fourteenth century bricks were not found a necessity in England, be- ! cause the land was covered with forests, I and where stone was not quarried and ised Tor building, walls were built with wood posts, boarded inside .and outside, with clay rammed in the space between the boards. Examples of this work are •till to 5a found in good condition. The «wli«st British brick building is Little Wenham Hall, in Suffolk, the courees of Wicks alternating with courses of stone *° d flint, It was built in 1260. »