Tudor Bricks

You will often find that Tudor bricks are reclaimed from old brick barns or Tudor style houses that have been demolished. The Tudor brick is incredibly sought after for use in extensions to match a home or for restoration projects when a Tudor style building has become damaged or needs work done on it. Generally speaking Tudor Bricks have a face thickness of 2” and are soft in texture; they tend to be of orange/red to deep red in colour.

Tudor Bricks came from the Tudor Period (1485-1603), this is when the decline of the Gothic style was witnessed and this was displaced by the Renaissance element – now marked as a Classical influence.  During these times brickwork was reserved for the privileged and when Henry VIII took ownership of Hampton Court Palace in 1514 he gave the brickwork the royal seal of approval.

Most Tudor bricks were made by itinerant brick makers hired by wealthy clients. There job was to find the suitable ‘topmost’ clay, excavate, mould, dry and fire it before delivering the completed bricks. Typically the ideal time for excavating the clay was winter, leaving the clay for the winter to break down and remove any soluble salts and then leaving it ready for moulding in the springtime.

You will often notice that Tudor bricks are shallow in height with rounded right angle edges, this is because when the clay was prepared for moulding there was a high water content and this made it hard to fully fill the mould.

The mould tended to be a simple open top and bottom frame, the clay was thrown in, the excess clay was struck off the top with a timber strike then the frame was lifted and removed leaving the, as it is now known, Tudor brick.

If you are looking to renovate or refurbish a Tudor building speak to the team at Brick Hunter, they will help you find the right Tudor bricks for your project.