Flushwork - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Description

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

, flushwork is the decorative combination on the same flat plane of flint

Flint

Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...

and ashlar

Ashlar

Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...

stone. It is characteristic of the external walls of medieval buildings, most of the survivors being churches, in parts of Southern England, but especially East Anglia

East Anglia

East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...

. If the stone projects from a flat flint wall, the term is proudwork — as the stone stands "proud" rather than being "flush" with the wall. Flushwork begins in the early 14th century, but the peak period was during the wool boom between about 1450 and the English Reformation

English Reformation

The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....

of the 1520s, when church building virtually ceased, and building in brick became more fashionable. The buildings belong to the Perpendicular style of English Gothic architecture

English Gothic architecture

English Gothic is the name of the architectural style that flourished in England from about 1180 until about 1520.-Introduction:As with the Gothic architecture of other parts of Europe, English Gothic is defined by its pointed arches, vaulted roofs, buttresses, large windows, and spires...

. 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.

Typical motifs are arcades, chequers (diapering

Diapering

Diaper is any of a wide range of decorative patterns used in a variety of works of art, such as stained glass, heraldic shields, architecture, silverwork etc. Its chief use is in the enlivening of plain surfaces.-Etymology:...

), shields, heraldic devices and letters or whole inscriptions – the picture of Long Melford Church shows arcading at four levels, shields and a long inscription running below the crenellations (naming the merchants who paid for the new church). Many motifs are very similar ro those achieved in carved or pierced stonework in other areas. The flints in flushwork areas are very carefully knapped (trimmed to shape by chipping) and selected for fit and consistency of colour, often forming a notable contrast in these respects to those in nearby plain wall areas. The stone usually used is a light limestone, often imported by sea and river from Caen

Caen stone

Caen stone or Pierre de Caen, is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in northwestern France near the city of Caen.The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about 167 million years ago...

in Normandy

Normandy

Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

or other continental sources, which gives a strong contrast with flint that is most often black. Flushwork, and flint architecture in general, is usually found in areas with no good local building stone, and though the labour cost of creating flushwork was high, it was still cheaper than importing stone to build or face the whole structure. Sometimes large areas are covered with chequers or diapering, as at the Norwich Guildhall (below), Gipping Church, or the Victorian St Mary-le-Tower in Ipswich

Ipswich

Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...

.

The Ethelbert Gate at Norwich Cathedral

Norwich Cathedral

Norwich Cathedral is a cathedral located in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Formerly a Catholic church, it has belonged to the Church of England since the English Reformation....

is one of the most important surviving examples of early flushwork, begun in 1316–17 and completed the following decade. Only nine surviving gatehouses use flushwork, and this one is further distinguished by using it on all four elevations (the heraldic priory

Priory

A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...

gatehouse at Butley, Suffolk

Butley, Suffolk

Butley is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk.Butley lies east of the town of Woodbridge on the B1084 road. Administratively, Butley forms part of the Suffolk Coastal district; from 1934 to 1974 it had been part of the former Deben Rural District.- External links :**...

of 1325 is another flamboyant early example). The side shown has elaborate patterned flushwork in the top register, which uses selected round flints in the circular motifs. This section was unfortunately restored in the 19th century slightly differently from the original design. The limestone is unusually dominant in the proudwork level with the statue below, where the squared flints are selected for a whitish colour. Below this there are two rows of black flint and limestone chequers.

Porches added to an earlier church often contain showy flushwork, as at the church that is now Chelmsford Cathedral

Chelmsford Cathedral

Chelmsford Cathedral in the county town of Chelmsford, Essex, England is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, St Peter and St Cedd. It became a cathedral when the Anglican Diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914 and is the seat of the Bishop of Chelmsford....

(below). Few churches have flushwork all over the main body of the building like Long Melford (above); as with carved stone decoration it is more common to find friezes at the base or top of a wall, or a decorated parapet

Parapet

A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...

(again often a later addition) to the top of a tower.

According to Stephen Hart, there are over 500 English churches with some flushwork. Among the finest not mentioned above are the churches at Southwold

Southwold

Southwold is a town on the North Sea coast, in the Waveney district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located on the North Sea coast at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is around south of Lowestoft and north-east...

, Woolpit

Woolpit

Woolpit is a village in the English county of Suffolk, midway between the towns of Bury St. Edmunds and Stowmarket As of 2007 it has a population of 2030. It is notable for the 12th-century legend of the green children of Woolpit and for its parish church, which has especially fine medieval woodwork...

, Earl Soham

Earl Soham

Earl Soham is a small settlement in Suffolk, England. It is on the A1120 road and is west of the town of Framlingham.- History :The manor of Earl Soham once belonged to the Earls of Norfolk, the Bigod family , who also owned nearby Framlingham Castle.Edward 1st granted Roger Bigod permission to...

, and several in Norwich

Norwich

Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

. The unique, and odd, East end of the church at Barsham, Suffolk

Barsham, Suffolk

Barsham is a village and civil parish in the Waveney district of Suffolk, England. It is about two miles west of Beccles in the district of Waveney, and is on the edge of The Broads...

, has a lattice pattern that continues from the window across the whole wall, whose date is highly uncertain.

Chequerwork

The form of flushwork known as diapering or Chequerwork, where blocks of stone (often light coloured limestone such as Chilmark Stone or chalk

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....

, or greensand

Greensand

Greensand or Green sand is either a sand or sandstone, which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment, that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called glauconies and consist of a mixture of mixed-layer clay...

) are alternated with panels of dressed flint in a chequerboard pattern, is a characteristic of Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

architecture, both vernacular and ecclesiastical, though also found in East Anglia, for example on the Guildhall, Norwich

Norwich

(picture below).

Description

Chequerwork

Further reading