This week I\u2019m looking for blue bricks.<\/p>\n
While I\u2019ve always had a passion for bricks of all periods, from ancient roman thins to modern Accringtons, there is something about the durability of Staffordshire blues that warrants my enthusiasm.\u00a0\u00a0 The fact is, barring trauma, ( i.e. a sledge-hammer), they will last for ever.\u00a0 Frost, and any weather (particularly our English weather) cannot deteriorate them.<\/p>\n
I have seen once-square Staffordshire blue bricks worn into flat loaves by cart-wheels & horse-shoes, and still they are fit for purpose.<\/p>\n
Though manufactured elsewhere in the country, nothing compares with the Etruria marl from Staffordshire that enables these bricks to be moulded and fired into these indestructible bricks, wall copings, and patterned pavers.<\/p>\n
Nothing embodies the might of the Victorians more than Staffordshire blue bricks, the key component of magnificent railway arches, aqueducts, and canal locks & moorings.<\/p>\n
I can remember buying lorry-loads in the eighties at 25p each, and selling at 50p.\u00a0 Blues will always hold a premium price.\u00a0 My customer\u2019s bricks this week will cost him \u00a32.00 each, and I still see this as a bargain, given their age and rarity.\u00a0 Some patterned pavers \u2013 diamond, stable-block, or maltese cross – may demand as much as \u00a35.00 apiece.<\/p>\n
My customer requires 500.\u00a0 Had he required a lorry-load now, I would say no chance.\u00a0 Can\u2019t remember the last time I saw a full load! (bear in mind 1985.\u00a0 Owen Murphy (r.i.p.) lifted and sold over 50,000 blue brick pavers arising from the demolition of Bingley Hall.)<\/p>\n
The new blue brick today are just as robust, ring like a bell, and have the same longevity and water-absorption (or lack of!).\u00a0 But they look sickly next to an original indigenous Staffy Blue.\u00a0\u00a0 Coloured concrete reproduction wall-copings are satisfactory in colour, but lack the sheen produced by firing.\u00a0\u00a0 Both brick and specials are nevertheless superb products and a good compromise in this 21st<\/sup> Century, enabling traditional patterns and profiles to survive alongside their antique predecessors.<\/p>\n There is, not five miles from me, underneath a mountain of brambles and weeds, a huge pile of great chunks of blue-brick walling, from the entire removal of an 1850\u2019s railway bridge.<\/p>\n The farmer whose farm adjoined the line, allowed them a free tip in the hope of dressing the brick for sale and make a few bob.\u00a0 They were impossible to separate, and thirty years on, have defied all attempts with brick hammer, lump hammer, sledge-hammer, and I suppose some day they will give the crusher a run for it\u2019s money.<\/p>\n If there is mortar present, a blue brick is exceptionally difficult to clean and you will end up with more blisters than brick.\u00a0 Remember that when buying!<\/p>\n My Grandad, an old Brummie, had a saying whenever anyone complained of a cough or cold.\u00a0 He would say \u201cit\u2019s nothing that can\u2019t be sorted by a good rub-down with a blue brick.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m unaware of any medicinal properties;\u00a0\u00a0 I figured that what he was actually saying, was \u201cget on with it.\u201d\u00a0 Which is basically what blue bricks do.\u00a0 Forever.<\/p>\n A couple of years ago, I supplied replacement Staffordshire blue bricks for the floor of the Chapel at the National Trust\u2019s Hidcote Gardens.\u00a0 A 19th<\/sup> century simple pastoral building being renovated for Wedding hire.\u00a0 Most of the bricks lifted easily, bedded as they were in ashes.\u00a0 I supplied the shortfall for those that were lost or missing in the process.\u00a0 Lifting the old floor allowed the luxury of under-floor heating, a rare treat in an old church!\u00a0\u00a0 The \u201cnew\u201d floor looked entirely original and latest reports attest that the thermal retention and heat transfer from these wonderful Victorian originals sees them performing exceptionally well in a new role.<\/p>\n Staffordshire blue bricks are widely travelled because of their unique qualities.\u00a0 Wherever you are, should you be seeking any original Staffordshire blue goods, then, of course, visit your local salvage yard, but I don\u2019t think I\u2019m giving any trade secrets away by stating the obvious, if your mission fails: enquire in Staffordshire!<\/p>\n Salvo.com<\/a> has a Directory by County for locating Architectural Salvage Yards, but my own personal recommendations go with the following:<\/p>\n Gardiners of Stoke.\u00a0 Friendly & helpful always. https:\/\/www.gardinersreclaims.co.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n