bricks/masonry and medieval architecture

Discussion of topics concerning life in the middle ages around the world, including architecture, history, and warfare.
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puddleglum
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bricks/masonry and medieval architecture

Post by puddleglum »

The other day I was wondering if it was possible to make a decent-looking brick wall out of LEGO, with bricks that were roughly minifig scale. I started messing around and kind of liked what I came up with, but it got me wondering . . . I don't really associate brick buildings/walls with medieval architecture. According to Wikipedia, kiln-fired bricks are "believed to have arisen in about the third millennium BC in the Middle East", and were widely used by the time of the Roman Empire. So . . . do bricks just play second fiddle to stone because that's what castles were built from, or were bricks really not common for medieval construction? Any history/architecture experts care to chime in? I haven't seen any castle MOCs using brick walls.

If anyone's interested, here's what I came up with. I'm probably not the first person to do it this way, but I didn't have any luck getting specific results out of a search that involved the terms "LEGO" and "brick". :?

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Aliencat
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Post by Aliencat »

For some really awesome brick walls you should check out Marakoeschtra's Lowlug Lounge, that he made for a Lowlug contest last year. It has some awesome brick wall texturing in the sides and back using 1x2 plates.
As for the historical accuracy of brick walls, a lot of castles here in the area are made with bricks, because there's a lot of clay in the ground here and not much stone. One of the more famous examples is Muiderslot, which is built out of bricks rather than stone blocks, but the same goes for most, if not all castles around here. Simply because of the lack of natural stone here.
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JoshWedin
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Post by JoshWedin »

You might want to check out Andrew's Fire Station. The brickwork is pretty impressive.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser ... 048008282/

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[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/ak_brickster/8 ... hotostream][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8252/85336074 ... 2a10_t.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.Brothers-Brick.com]The Brothers Brick[/url]
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Post by Garbageman13 »

JoshWedin wrote:You might want to check out Andrew's Fire Station. The brickwork is pretty impressive.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser ... 048008282/

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Yes, if I recall correctly, the person that came up with that idea originally was cre8ivejuan. Here's a link to his technique
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puddleglum
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Post by puddleglum »

Thanks for those links, guys - I don't think I would have ever found those just by searching. Stacking 1 x 2 plates looks better than I thought it would - but wow, there must be a couple thousand of those things in there!

I really like the brickwork on the firehouse and ther other building. I thought of alternating 1x1 bricks with 1x1 bricks with a stud to get horizontal spacing, but it never occured to me that using tiles would allow you to really fine-tune the spacing. I guess the downside is that building a wall entirely of 1x1 bricks would be a real pain! Not to mention jiggering with each brick to make it look right.

I like the picture of the brick castle. Anyways, I guess it's safe to say one reason we don't see brickwork more in castle MOCs is that it is tedious and part-consuming, eh?
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Post by sir aleks the bold »

stone waseasy to find,cheap,andyou didn'thave to make it
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Post by Ye Olde Republic »

Stone wasn't easy to find, they didn't build castles just anywere that somebody found a pile of rocks...
Castles weren't cheap. Many castles were never even completed because Lords (etc.) ran out of money and labour. Most castles (in England at least) were not funded by the king.
Of course you had to 'make it'!! Do you think that stones come out of the quarry perfectly shaped to build walls, arches and other aspects of castles?
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Post by Heir of Black Falcon »

In truth bricks were actually way, way cheaper. On average in the late medieval period in England at least after bricks are in common use they cost 1/20-1/30th that of stone. Stone was stonger and established material of fortresses. When in the 15th century they rebuilt a tower in York of brick the mason guild actually attacks the bricklayers (Tylers=tile-ers or tile as one name for bricks) and even kill one. Masons clearly felt bricks had no place in fortifications but from mid 15th on you do see more and more castles of brick. This does not mean they were not fortifications only that cost, labour (it is a million times easier to make and cut brick than stone).

There is exception. Some walls do not use an ashlar layer (the well cut and placed sontes) and use rough stones thoughtout the build. IN most cases though this simply means the ashlar level fell off over time but it has been known to happen.

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