"Bricks I have known and loved" ………… Ann’s story from Brittany ... two bricks and an Emperor

Now, I am not alone in having “a thing about bricks”.

Lots of Ann's brick put to good use, 2021

After all they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes as well as colours, and represents one of the moments in history, when people could escape from living in wattle and daub cottages to something which was more durable and long lasting.

At which point I recognise bricks have been around a very long time and if you lived in the Middle East they were your chosen material to build a home from earliest times.

But not so here, where when the Tudors adopted the brick it was still an expensive way to build a home.

As late as the 1850s, only fifty percent of the houses in the small township of Chorlton-cum-Hardy were made of brick, which I suspect could be matched in the surrounding townships.

So in my time I have collected old bricks, always choosing the hand made ones which date from the early 19th century and back into the 18th.

My favourite is one that came from the Miller Street dig on the site of what is now the new Co-op building.  It dates from the late 18th century, and came from a one up one down back to back property.

Joe and I had been invited onto the dig by one of the archaeologists on a day when the site was closed.  I suspect he took pity on two OAPs out on an adventure, showed us around, and granted our request to take away a brick each.

These were transported across the city in two worn plastic bags, with both of remarking that we had struck gold, but wondered how we would explain them if we were to be stopped by the police.

Some of Ann's bricks which missed the house, 

All of which is an introduction to Ann’s bricks which were in her back garden. Ann lives in France who told me that “the bricks were stamped with the words ‘Chauvin, Sion’, and were made in Sion les Mines, which is 5 k from here, and used to make a decorative edging around some of the Windows.  

They probably date from 1850, but I can't make out the other lettering. 

I used to have about a dozen assorted ones, but they've been used!”.

And for those wanting a bit of contextual French history, they may have been made two years after Louis Napoleon, became President of France, and two years after the said President made himself Emperor, following in the footsteps of his illustrious uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte.

So there you have it … a little bit of French brick history here on the Chorlton blog.

Location; Brittany, France

Pictures; French bricks, circa 1850, from the collection of Ann Love