Loess in Britain X Brick buildings

Wight, J.A.  1972.  Brick Building in England: From the Middle Ages to 1550.  John Baker, 4, 5 & 6 Soho Square, London,  439p.

Smalley, I.J.  1987.  The nature of 'brickearth' and the location of early brick buildings in Britain. British Brick Society Information no.41, 4-11.

Smalley, I.J.  1985/6.  Loess bricks in Britain.  Bulletin of the Experimental Firing Group 4, 55-66 (reprinted in Loess Letter 70, 4-15, 2013; see www.loessletter.msu.edu).

If the loess/brickearth is concentrated in the south-east of England then the brick buildings should also be there. In particular the early brick buildings- built from bricks made from easily accessible local brickearth. Jane Wight has a great map in her book.

An interesting feature of this map is the way that the Weald region is outlined by a lack of buildings. The Weald was a region lacking in loess- there had been loess deposited in the Weald by the same events which spread loess material over the North and South Downs, but the Wealden material was carried away by local rivers.. 

Many of the early brick buildings in London were built from the Thames valley brickearths. The most spectacular brick building in Britain is probably Hampton Court Palace- arguably the most impressive loess deposit in the country