Ruralise

Black buildings are a common site in the Norfolk countryside. Most often this involves black-painted weatherboarding on a timber-framed barn or more lowly shed, and sometimes it’s black-painted brick (see last post). Black tar-based paints were used widely used during the nineteenth century, as their main ingredient – coal-tar – was a waste-product of the production of ‘town gas’ from coal. A black painted plinth on a brick or rendered building is a common sight, used to protect the lower part of the wall from splashing, but it is also not uncommon to see a single wall of brick coated full height, presumably to protect it from penetrating damp, perhaps on the side of the building facing the prevailing wind and driving rain, or sometimes on the tall relatively exposed gable wall, not benefitting from the protection of an overhanging eave. Continue reading →