02V THE PRICE OF BUILDING MATERIALS, ETC. 441 



being included, as it always is in these higher prices. In 1521 

 the Oxford price has fallen to 4^-., if as I think we may gene- 

 rally infer that the load was half a thousand. By this time then 

 the manufacture of bricks at or near Oxford had so far been 

 developed, that the article could be procured at two-fifths the 

 price of 1493. ^ make no doubt that we can discover in these 

 facts the gradual growth of a local industry, which was spread- 

 ing westwards, which was at first extended with difficulty, and 

 in the face of prejudice or habit, but finally became naturalised. 

 I may add, in confirmation of what I have stated, that in 1465, 

 when bricks are first bought in Oxford, they are purchased at 5^. 

 and 4s. %d. the load, a quantity which at 500 to the load will 

 give IQS. and 9.5-. 4^., the price in Norfolk and Middlesex being 

 4J-. and $s. ^d. t and the latter (Sion) being paid for to the large 

 amount of 76,000; that in 1486 they were bought in Oxford, the 

 quantity being small, at iSs. 4^. the thousand, and in 1488 at 

 i6s. %d. for the same quantity. I have, it will be seen, been 

 unable to use these entries even for my annual averages. 



The use of bricks becomes general, and the price is fairly 

 steady up to 1547, when Oxford again buys a small quantity at 

 us. 8d. But by this time the rise in prices had been generally 

 affected, and the work of the public buildings now given over 

 to devastation was so good that the bricks could not, like the 

 tiles, slates, and timber, be dislodged from their place so as to 

 be used for new constructions. In the later part, i.e. the last 

 thirty years, the price of bricks is about double that of the 

 earlier average, but it should be remembered that after all 

 deductions the industry was a new one, and that therefore the 

 parallel between the earlier and the later prices is not quite on 

 a level with that of the produce of more settled and familiar 

 occupations. I find no entry of bricks in the western counties, 

 and I am inclined to believe that the craft of brickmaking 

 spread slowly in that direction. The purchases made on 

 behalf of the king's palaces are enormous. 



Paving bricks are first named in 1533, wnen tne y are bought 

 at is. 4^. the hundred at Richmond, and 2s. %d. the hundred at 



