248 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
The thickness of early bricks was rather indefinite, but from a
bare 2in. the average remained at 2in., or a very little more
throughout pre-Tudor and Tudor times until quite suddenly over
the middle years of the seventeenth century the thickness went to
21/2in., again until mid-eighteenth century.
You will perhaps notice that I stopped short at the middle
eighteenth century in my description of each dimension; the
reason was, that in 1784 a Brick Tax was imposed. Legislation had
previously prescribed smaller and smaller standard sizes, so that
by 1725 the legal standard was down to 9in. x 41/4in. x 21/2in. How-
ever, the law was not completely observed and we find the some-
what larger 9in. x 41/2in. x 21/2in. brick made and used throughout
the early and mid-eighteenth century.
As usually happens, the drafters of that financial measure of
1784 failed to make allowance for the obvious public reaction, and
bricks became larger and larger in order that the tax (which was on
the total number of bricks used in a building) should be kept
small.
Thus, towards the end of the eighteenth century bricks 10in. x
5in. x 3in. began to be more common, much to the detriment of
the architectural beauty of the structures made from them. The
Brick Tax was repealed only in 1850, but I judge evasions to have
been frequent, or perhaps the stringent doubling of the tax in 1803
on bricks larger than 10in. x 5in. x 3in., made their creators more
cautious. However, that may be, the bricks made throughout
Victoria's reign were about 9in. x 41/2in. x 21/2in. or slightly less in
width in some cases.
The present British Standard Brick (B.S.I. 657) is 83/4in. x
43/16in. x 25/8in., so you see we tend towards a brick under 9
inches long, under 41/4 inches wide and over 21/2 inches thick, a
rather "chubby" shape. It is interesting to note that we tolerate no
departure from standard in length or width of more than 1/8in., and
in thickness, 1/16in. No such fine limits were thought of before the
late nineteenth century, and I suppose it would be true to say that
four or five times these variations occur in all periods from the
fourteenth century to the nineteenth century, with even greater
variations in the thirteenth century.
You will see that the only reliable evidence of date to be had
from brick sizes is at times of sudden change. These are:
(i) thin, flat tile-like bricks are Roman or twelfth to early
thirteenth century;
(ii) big bricks, e.g., 10in. x 5in. x 3in. or so, may be 1780 to c.
1830;
(iii) so-called 2in. bricks, i.e., considerably less than 21/2in. in
thickness, may usually be dated before the Restoration in
1660.