440 ON THE PRICE OF BUILDING MATERIALS, ETC. 



were competent to bear the very severe strain which the 

 builders of the time with which I am concerned put upon 

 that which they manufactured. The best English brick of 

 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries has, I am persuaded, no 

 parallel in European architecture of that and of a preceding 

 age, and was, as my reader will infer, the costliest article with 

 which an architect could construct a building. 



The price of bricks fluctuates more than that of any other 

 article employed for building purposes, even when the pur- 

 chases of small quantities are omitted from the annual averages. 

 This cannot be set down to locality only. Brick earth of 

 fifteenth-century quality was as plentiful near Oxford as it was 

 near London, and as accessible. I do not pretend to say that 

 the art of manufacturing it was as well known in the former 

 neighbourhood as it was in the latter. But in 1460 bricks are 

 bought at London for 5.$-. the thousand, and in 1461 at Oxford 

 for los. In 1462 the only entries are those from London and 

 Cambridge, and I have already observed that brickmaking 

 was more general, and indeed brick building, in the eastern 

 than in the midland district of England, and here the thousand 

 costs 5^. 6d. in Cambridge and 5^. in London. In 1463 

 bricks are 4^-. in Sandwich. But it is also plain that the art 

 was rapidly diffused, for in 1485 bricks are bought at the kiln 

 by the load (probably 500 to the load) at zs. by the New 

 College bailiff, and carried at is. 4d. the load to the place 

 where they were used. , In twenty-four years the price had 

 fallen from los. the thousand to 35. ^d. The cost of carriage 

 proves that they must have been bought some twelve to 

 fourteen miles away. 



In 1493 bricks are again bought at los. in Oxford, but only a 

 hundred. In 1496 the same quantity is bought in the same 

 place at the same rate. In 1500 another quantity, now eight 

 hundred, is purchased for ios. 4<f., and in 1501 Oxford pays loj. 

 for a thousand. These are the only instances of excessive prices in 

 this period of eight years. In 1504 bricks are bought at Oxford 

 for 7^. ^d. the thousand ; in 1509 at 6s. 4^., the cost of carriage 



