the wall

A friend showed me something interesting—and unexpected—a few weeks ago: a brick wall! He’s taken leave of his senses, you might conclude at this point. But see for yourself:

It does seem unremarkable, but look more closely:

Notice that the bricks are all different sizes, and the edges are irregular, from which I conclude that these bricks were moulded by hand. Notice too that for every five brick courses there is a narrow sandstone course. Given that this is a boundary wall, not part of a building, it would seem unlikely that this was done for decorative effect. Perhaps the sandstone courses were inserted to stabilize the structure, given the irregular brick shapes, although this is the conjecture of someone who knows very little about masonry or bricklaying. Whatever is the truth, the wall’s foundations seem to have been inadequate; as you can see, the brick and stone courses are no longer horizontal. And I can say that the masonry courses are not Penrith sandstone, which has a distinctive reddish brown colour.

I have no idea how old this structure is, but it could be one of the oldest in Penrith. I would be very surprised if there is another wall like this one in the town. It should be preserved.

If you want to see the wall for yourself, it separates the local government offices car park off De Whelpdale Lane from the backyards of houses on Sandgate. And if you can shed any light on the age of this wall, please leave a comment.