Flushwork

[1] Flushwork begins in the early 14th century, but the peak period was during the wool boom between about 1450 and the English Reformation of the 1520s, when church building virtually ceased and brick construction became more fashionable.

The technique continued in occasional use, and saw a major revival in the 19th century, and is still sometimes used in a modern style today, as well as for the restoration or extension of older buildings.

[1] Although the labour cost of creating flushwork was high, it was still cheaper than importing the large quantity of stone necessary to build or face the entire structure.

The stone usually used is a light limestone, often imported by sea and river from Caen in Normandy or other continental sources, which gives a strong contrast with flint that is most often black.

[5]) The side pictured here has elaborate patterned flushwork in the top register, which uses selected round flints in the circular motifs; this section was restored in the 19th century slightly differently from the original design.

The unique, and odd, east end of Holy Trinity Church at Barsham, Suffolk, has a lattice pattern that continues from the window across the whole wall, although the date is highly uncertain.