It is impossible to understand the clay here without knowing about flint. I am surprised I haven't posted about it before. Actually, the weather has been dismal for the past few days, and I am just waiting to be able to start construction again.
The flint comes in rounded nodules of very bizarre shapes. They are whitish on the outside, although it is very rare to find one that hasn't been chipped. Inside, they are translucent purple.
Many of the houses around here are made of brick with an infill of 'knapped flint'- they cover the facade with a layer of render and then embed the flint, cut side out (the knapped side).
The workshop and cottage of Grymsdyke Farm are made in this way. They are older than the main house.
On one of my walks I saw two houses side by side, both of which were red brick and flint. One was built in 1893, the other in 2001. They looked so similar it was uncanny. Normally new houses have something that betrays their newness. But the randomness of the flint placement and the pre-weathered bricks allowed for an absolute continuity of aesthetic. Is this desirable? It does reinforce the distinct character of this area, but I wonder if there are other ways of building with flint that have yet to be discovered. The challenge is that it is very hard and stubbornly non-rectilinear.
The flint comes in rounded nodules of very bizarre shapes. They are whitish on the outside, although it is very rare to find one that hasn't been chipped. Inside, they are translucent purple.
On one of my walks I saw two houses side by side, both of which were red brick and flint. One was built in 1893, the other in 2001. They looked so similar it was uncanny. Normally new houses have something that betrays their newness. But the randomness of the flint placement and the pre-weathered bricks allowed for an absolute continuity of aesthetic. Is this desirable? It does reinforce the distinct character of this area, but I wonder if there are other ways of building with flint that have yet to be discovered. The challenge is that it is very hard and stubbornly non-rectilinear.
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