London stock brick

Commonly, a field would be excavated to expose the brickearth (which was found overlying the London clay subsoil), which was then turned into bricks on the site by moulding and firing them.

The opening of the Grand Junction Canal to the River Thames at Brentford in 1794 and its Paddington Arm in 1801, enabled the bulk transportation of stock bricks into London from west Middlesex, particularly from the Cowley, Yiewsley and Starveall areas.

By the 1890s it is estimated 100 million bricks per year were being produced in west Middlesex, supplying Victorian London's demand for building materials.

[3] In December 1882, the Slough Arm of the canal opened, enabling the transportation of bricks made in Buckinghamshire.

In the 19th century, London stock bricks were available in a variety of grades priced according to their consistency and their regularity of shape and colour.

Unfortunately it seems to have been common practice for a high grade brick to be broken in half so that it could be used twice, each end appearing as a header in the wall.

Unfortunately, some of the new products are painted white or black to simulate the whitewashed or soot blackened surfaces often encountered in the real second hand bricks – making them unsuitable for face-work.

Lime mortar tends to weaken in London's acidic rainwater and needs repointing several times a century.