The Great Rebuilding
The beginning of the I7th Century was the era of the 'Great Rebuilding'. The ordinary people's homes were becoming more permanent and brick was starting to replace wattle and daub. Chimney gables, previously made of timber and clay. were now
being rebuilt in brick. The Great Fire of London in 1666 and fires in other cities throughout the country encouraged the use of brick. Many insurance companies in the cities were started around this time with house owners being unable to insure their properties if they posed a great fire risk. Some of the old houses in York and the surrounding villages have a "fire mark" on the wall dating back to the time when insurance companies started to bear the cost of saving burning buildings.
The first brick house in York. in Ogleforth, was built then. It seems that this general trend reached the Haxby area a little later. A lot of brickyards were starting to operate in this part of North Yorkshire possibly not before the beginning of the 18th Century. In the early days the bricks were usually made by itinerant workers.
Early bricks, usually made in clamps, were often irregular in size and shape although Tudor brick makers, at their best. made very
elaborate twisted chimneys and patterned their brickwork by inserting very over-burnt bricks between their often bright orangey-red bricks. There doesn't appear to be any bricks of this age in Haxby.
Bricks from the mid-18th Century onwards can be seen here. A few of the cottages along The Village date from mid to late 18th Century. The oldest cottages have smaller bricks. The row of terraced cottages beyond The Hospice shop on The Village was
built with very small bricks indicating that this terrace has some of the oldest houses here. There are also a few garden walls built
with these very old bricks.
In many 'brick' areas in Britain the Brick Tax Of 1784 played a part in encouraging brickyard owners to increase the size of bricks so that home owners had less tax to pay. Certainly there is a variation in the size of the bricks on the older houses here. The bricks used on the old houses here are predominantly pink, light brown or grey, No doubt the majority came from local brick fields. Some of the more expensive houses were raced with bricks of yellow (or white) marl generally known as 'Scarborough Buff. The terrace houses on York Road and a few houses on Station Road are faced in this way. These houses on York Road were built in 1904 by Bert Prole. The majority of the bricks used came from the DrifTield's brick yard. There are various areas in York, including the bottom of Huntington Road where there are houses faced with pale bricks - as in Scarborough where the name comes from.
The beginning of the I7th Century was the era of the 'Great Rebuilding'. The ordinary people's homes were becoming more permanent and brick was starting to replace wattle and daub. Chimney gables, previously made of timber and clay. were now
being rebuilt in brick. The Great Fire of London in 1666 and fires in other cities throughout the country encouraged the use of brick. Many insurance companies in the cities were started around this time with house owners being unable to insure their properties if they posed a great fire risk. Some of the old houses in York and the surrounding villages have a "fire mark" on the wall dating back to the time when insurance companies started to bear the cost of saving burning buildings.
The first brick house in York. in Ogleforth, was built then. It seems that this general trend reached the Haxby area a little later. A lot of brickyards were starting to operate in this part of North Yorkshire possibly not before the beginning of the 18th Century. In the early days the bricks were usually made by itinerant workers.
Early bricks, usually made in clamps, were often irregular in size and shape although Tudor brick makers, at their best. made very
elaborate twisted chimneys and patterned their brickwork by inserting very over-burnt bricks between their often bright orangey-red bricks. There doesn't appear to be any bricks of this age in Haxby.
Bricks from the mid-18th Century onwards can be seen here. A few of the cottages along The Village date from mid to late 18th Century. The oldest cottages have smaller bricks. The row of terraced cottages beyond The Hospice shop on The Village was
built with very small bricks indicating that this terrace has some of the oldest houses here. There are also a few garden walls built
with these very old bricks.
In many 'brick' areas in Britain the Brick Tax Of 1784 played a part in encouraging brickyard owners to increase the size of bricks so that home owners had less tax to pay. Certainly there is a variation in the size of the bricks on the older houses here. The bricks used on the old houses here are predominantly pink, light brown or grey, No doubt the majority came from local brick fields. Some of the more expensive houses were raced with bricks of yellow (or white) marl generally known as 'Scarborough Buff. The terrace houses on York Road and a few houses on Station Road are faced in this way. These houses on York Road were built in 1904 by Bert Prole. The majority of the bricks used came from the DrifTield's brick yard. There are various areas in York, including the bottom of Huntington Road where there are houses faced with pale bricks - as in Scarborough where the name comes from.
