SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

How early were bricks used in Leeds to build in a) houses and b) larger buildings.
the facts would be useful because I am trying to date some old buildings in east Leeds.

In the "Discovering Leeds" section of Leodis is the following:

"On Cossins map of 1725 Red Hall is the large house at the junction of the Upper Head Row with Lands Lane. It was built in 1628, and it is reputed to be the first house in Leeds to be built of brick, hence the name Red Hall."

it doesn't say where the info comes from though.

Are there any names on the bricks used in the buildings you are wanting to date?

It depends somewhat on what you are including as Leeds, but Temple Newsam House is entirely brick built. To the best of my knowledge the West wing it the oldest part of the house and is original - that was built around 1500.

One of the buildings was Foundry Mill which was built in 1779 and revised several times,it was demolished in 1938.
I wondered where the bricks came from, they have all disappeared.

Bruno wrote:It depends somewhat on what you are including as Leeds, but Temple Newsam House is entirely brick built. To the best of my knowledge the West wing it the oldest part of the house and is original - that was built around 1500.

According to John Gilleghan in his excellent book "Halton - The story of an East Leeds Village"

There was an early brickworks at Newsom Green where the bricks were made for Temple Newsam House. There are records in the 1630's for a supply of 70,000 bricks for £5

warringtonrhino wrote:One of the buildings was Foundry Mill which was built in 1779 and revised several times,it was demolished in 1938.
I wondered where the bricks came from, they have all disappeared.

Ken, having been brought in Halton the obvious example of an 18th century building brick built building still standing is Dial House on Chapel Street which as far as I know was built in 1720.

http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... 129_175699

It would be pure conjecture where these bricks were sourced but if you look at the 1852 6" to the mile sheet there is a "brick field" shown to the immediate west of Grove Road (known then as Peggy Lane) to the south of the centre of Halton (see attachment). It could be the same source of materials for the Foundry Mill but the problem is that ultimately in East Leeds there was an endless sources of materials for producing bricks (which was one of the factor which drove the rapid expansion of East Leeds, slum developments, in the 19th century)

As a student of Channel 4's Timeteam I understand that you can normally date bricks by their dimensions and I am sure that there will be no shortage of references on the subject on t'interweb

Thanks for that Graham, I have had several discussions with the OS archives, querying the different shapes of the Foundry Mill as it appears on the various OS maps, none of which look anything like John Smeaton's dimensioned plans. I was beginning to think that each building was demolished and a new one built to the new shape. However with reference to the OS surveyors notes and the sketches they made at the time I can confirm, my suspicion that all the different plans were correct when measured. This has led me to the conclusion that the Foundry Mill had all the components from the John Smeaton plans, with two minor alterations. Knowing that the final mill building was brickwork and your confirmation that the 1779 mill building could also have been brickwork has helped me draw all four plans. They are exactly the size and shape on the OS maps and the internal layouts show a logical progression.