Perhaps the first thing you will notice when you look at Gorton Monastery is that one of the primary building materials is brick - they have a habit of standing out due to their strong colour. EarthCaches are designed to draw attention to natural geology, and so you don’t normally see bricks mentioned because they are essentially a ‘man made’ stone. However, brick is not the only stone used on the monastery, the building features a stunning blend of natural sandstone and man-made brick working together and it would have been easy to just focus on the sandstone and ignore the brick. However, I've never seen an EarthCache that looks at brick, and before I wrote this I'd never even really known what a brick even was - so I decided to give some explanation of the trusty ‘brick’ here as well as taking a look at the sandstone, because bricks are made from natural geological components and by understanding both, you can appreciate the difference between natural and man-made stone.
The Building Stones of Gorton Monastery: Fired Brick
Firstly, we need to clarify the terminology. Although traditionally the word 'brick' was used to describe a man-made stone, in modern building ‘brick’ means any rectangular unit laid in mortar, so a ‘brick’ could be anything from breeze blocks to sandstone if it was the right shape. From now on, the bricks of Gorton Monastery will be referred to with the correct terminology - as ‘fired bricks’.
So why would someone consider using a ‘fired brick’ in a building instead of simply using the large amounts of natural stone that can be readily taken from the ground? The interior of the monastery is sandstone, fired brick is only found externally. Fired brick is considered one of the strongest and longest lasting building materials, and they can still be impressively old – we know fired bricks have been used since at least 5000 BC. Even before that, air-dried bricks were used. Perhaps the fired bricks were used to be fashionable, decorative, resistant to pollution or perhaps they were used purely for their strength.
A fired brick
This man-made stone is created with natural ingredients so let’s take a look at what you need to make your own fired brick. Just over half of a ‘normal’ brick consists of silica, which is the major ingredient in sand and comes from clay. A quarter of a brick consists of alumina, which again comes from clay. Then you add lime, iron oxide and magnesia. The fired bricks can be then created using a choice of production methods, all of which result in them being fired, or baked. They are fired for between 10 and 40 hours and require different lengths of time at different temperatures depending on the clay, and this can range from temperatures between 149 ºC and 1316 ºC. This firing often occurs in a tunnel kiln, where the bricks are loaded onto cars which then pass through the various temperature zones.
Another point I would like you to consider is how a brick is coloured. Here at Gorton Monastery you can observe different colours of brick. The colour of fired clay bricks is influenced by the chemical and mineral content of the raw materials, the firing temperature, and the atmosphere in the kiln. Regardless of its natural colour, clay containing iron in practically any form will exhibit a shade of red when exposed to an oxidizing fire because of the formation of ferrous oxide. Pink bricks are the result of a high iron content, white or yellow bricks have a higher lime content. Most bricks burn to various red hues; as the temperature is increased the colour moves through dark red, purple, and then to brown or grey at around 1,300 °C.
Once a brick has been fired it is extremely hard and it has been constructed to a standard shape with a view to effective building. This doesn’t prevent them from being used decoratively and you may be able to spot examples of the use of decorative fired bricks in the monastery walls. They can be cut (you will see cut bricks in many places) but being extremely hard they couldn’t be carved or sculptured very easily.
The Building Stones of Gorton Monastery: Sandstone
I wonder how many people glance at Gorton Monastery without looking properly, and see a building that is constructed with only fired brick. You would be very mistaken to draw this conclusion. As soon as you stop and look closely you see that there is actually a huge amount of sandstone used in the building, some of which may be in a brick shape. In fact if you took all the sandstone away from the building and replaced it with fired brick, it would look nowhere near as stunning as it does. It is this unusual blend of natural sandstone with man-made fired brick that gives Gorton Monastery the unique appearance that has helped to make it world famous.
Sandstone, cut to the shape of a brick. Look closely, there could be something similar here.
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock. If it is clastic, it means the stone is essentially composed of broken pieces of older rocks. These sand grains are sized between 0.05mm and 2mm and may have been deposited in the sea, by rivers, or in deserts, and later cemented together by minerals precipitated from groundwater. Most sandstones are made up largely of quartz grains, because quartz is a very hard and chemically-resistant mineral. Quartzite is a name given to very hard, pure quartz sandstones. Many sandstones contain some grains of other minerals like calcite, clay, or mica. Because the precise minerals and composition of the grains varies sandstones can be very different in strength, some very soft and some very hard.
In a building such as Gorton Monastery, a sandstone is usually chosen that is soft enough to be carved and shaped to be decorative, however, it is important to use a sandstone that is not too soft it will be attacked by the wind, rain and chemical pollution. If a sandstone is soft enough to be carved it is probably it will be susceptible to weathering damage from the natural elements, but how quickly this occurs depends on the specific sandstone. In Manchester the local sandstone often used for decorative buildings was Collyhurst Sandstone. This is a particularly soft red sandstone, easily carved and a very attractive colour. Unfortunately, it has proved a mistake to use it in building work as it is not very resistant to weathering and erosion and disintegrates relatively quickly and there are other EarthCaches in Manchester that look at this issue. It is a distinctive red colour and although the source of the sandstone here is unknown, we know it is not Collyhurst and it will be up to you to decide whether it is a more resistant one.
Weathering
We cannot compare the two types of stone without some consideration of the effects of weathering. All stones are at risk of weathering and despite belief that fired brick is very hard, it depends on the quality of the fired brick, they could be just as susceptible to weathering as sandstone. The term weathering is used to describe the process where stone breaks down, by chemical, physical or biological activity.
An example of severe chemical weathering
- Physical weathering is connected to changing temperatures. The monastery is situated in a city where temperatures change relatively slowly and it rarely drops below freezing point. Freeze-thaw is perhaps the most common type of physical weathering in this part of the country (the North of England) as it tends to lean towards colder temperatures than warmer. Freeze-thaw occurs when water continually seeps into cracks, freezes and expands, eventually breaking the stone apart. In a very warm environment the expansion and contraction of the surface layer of rocks that are baked by the sun can be a problem, but here in Manchester the temperatures needed for this to be a problem are perhaps seen infrequently.
- Biological weathering occurs with the influence of plant or animal interference. A plant such as ivy or a weed, could start growing and push roots into gaps in the stone causing the rock to slowly pull apart as the roots expand. Even the tiniest bacteria, algae and lichens produce chemicals that help break down the rock on which they live, so they can get the nutrients they need so the stone is always at some risk, however small. You would perhaps not expect to spot any plants growing from the building today due to the recent multi-million pound renovations, but twenty years ago when it was sat empty and abandoned after years of neglect, this could well have been a problem. If so, damage caused then may still be observed today if you look closely. Animal impacts are also considered biological weathering. For example, a simple pigeon making a home in the stone could case serious damage. Pigeon excrement contains acids that can cause irreversible damage to building surfaces resulting in the scarring of building fabric and corrosion of the stone. Studies have shown that the corrosive effects can continue for a long time after the stone has been contaminated, even if the fouling is removed. It cost £140,000 to repair damage to Nelson's Column purely caused by pigeon excrement.
- Chemical weathering is primarily caused by rain water reacting with the mineral grains in rocks to form new minerals (clays) and soluble salts. These reactions occur particularly when the water is slightly acidic, and in industrial cities such as Manchester, air pollution can enhance the acidity of the rain or introduce other damaging ingredients. Flaking of the surface of sandstone can produce large and small coherent flakes which become detached. Where sandstone has been carved this can sometimes cause the protective surface of the stone to be compromised and the carved areas are then more susceptible to faster weathering.
In addition to the weathering process, black crusts can be deposited on stone. These result from the deposition of particulate matter such as soot, something that was frequently a problem in bygone industrial times in Manchester when industries were burning coal in very large quantities. They can also form by the reaction of sulfur dioxide and calcium carbonate that may be present.
Logging Requirements (Questions to Answer)
I encourage you to walk around and look at more than one area before formulating your answers, although you shouldn't find any question very hard. The given co-ordinates are the recommended place to complete the answers. I have kept the questions purely based on the exterior so it can be completed at any time, but when published the church was open 6 days a week with no charge for entry, so I encourage you to look inside. There are other rock types to be seen, for example the pillars in the Nave are made of Bath Stone, a marble like limestone with a distinct warm, honey colouring. You do not need any great expertise in geology, you simply need to look closely at the stone and make observations.
Please send your answers via messenger or email, ideally when you log your find or soon after. If answers are not received within a week your log may be deleted. I always try and reply, but may be busy, so please do not wait for any acknowledgement before submitting your log. The questions should all be answered visually, no touching of the stonework is required.
Firstly spend a little time examining the church. It is built using red and dark blue fired bricks, whilst anything with a cream colouring is probably sandstone. Please disregard the roof, this is not being considering as part of this EarthCache.
1) Look at the way both stones have been utilised in the building. Is the use of the brick purely structural or has it been used as part of the decoration? Likewise, has the sandstone been incorporated into the structure of the church or is it purely used for decoration? Please give an example for each decision.
2) Find somewhere to view a fired brick directly next to some sandstone. Describe the appearance of the fired brick compared to the sandstone (consider colour, texture, grain sizes, consistency etc). Remember the main ingredients of a fired brick are from sandstone/clay, but man has found a way to bond them differently to that of nature. What are the major differences and is this what you expected to see?
3) Choose your favourite example of where sandstone has been carved in a particularly decorative way. Describe what you have chosen and tell me why this sandstone is the ideal stone to use for the purpose.
Consider the condition of the two stones. Both the fired bricks and the sandstone have the potential to be resistant to weathering and to be long lasting but inferior fired bricks and soft sandstone both have the potential to deteriorate over time. You are looking for any evidence of natural weathering to either of the stone types.
4) Rate the overall condition of the sandstone in terms of weathering (1 being poor, 10 being excellent).
5) Rate the overall condition of the fired bricks in terms of weathering (1 being poor, 10 being excellent).
6) Would you apply this rating universally to all the sandstone and all the fired brick, or do you think some areas are more weathered than others? If you think some areas have weathered worse than others, can you suggest a reason?
7) Thinking well into the future, based on the condition of the two stones when you visited today, do you think the fired brick will last longer than the sandstone, and what do you think might be the biggest worry for the conservators in the coming years – why?
If you wish to take an photograph with the monastery this is encouraged as it provides good additional evidence of your visit as well as a good momento. It is however completely optional.
History of Gorton Monastery
The Church and Friary of St Francis, known locally as Gorton Monastery, is not actually a monastery but in fact it is a 19th century former Franciscan friary in Gorton, Manchester, England. The Franciscans arrived in Gorton in December 1861 and built their friary between 1863 and 1867. Most of the building work was done by the friars themselves, with a brother acting as clerk of works. The foundation stone for the church was laid in 1866 and completed in 1872. It is a prominent example of High Victorian Gothic architecture, and has been listed with Grade II status since 1963. It was designed by Edward Welby Pugin (1834–1875), whose father, A.W.N. Pugin, promoted the revival of Gothic as the style of architecture which was the ideal expression of Roman Catholic faith and worship in church buildings.
The sheer size of the place is one of the things that make it so impressive with its high vaulted ceiling. In its heyday, the monastery ran three schools, a parish hall, youth clubs, theatre and music groups, choirs, brass bands as well as being the social and spiritual focus of the community. By the 1970s the area that had once been a centre for heavy industry was in decline and the old terraced housing was demolished, leaving the monastery isolated. There were just six elderly friars living there in 1989 and the monastery was finally closed. It was bought by developers who intended converting it into flats, but this never happened. Left unprotected, the building was vandalised and picked over for its lead and anything else that could be sold. In 1997, Gorton Monastery was placed on the World Monuments Fund Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites in the World alongside Pompeii, the Taj Mahal and the Valley of the Kings.
It is a miracle that it survived and this is entirely down to the volunteers and local people set up a preservation trust to save the building as it is today. Among the items that the housing developers stripped out were the sandstone statues of twelve saints that stood high on either side of the church. They turned up in a Sotherby’s catalogue in 1994 as desirable ‘garden statuary’ and would have been sold but for the determination of a volunteer and Manchester City Council. After a protracted battle, the statues were returned to Manchester, but that was just the beginning. They needed extensive restoration work through funds raised by the trust. They were only recently finally returned to their place in the monastery. The church and associated friary buildings underwent a £6 million restoration programme supported by funds from the Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage and European Regional Development Fund. The initial project was completed in June 2007 when the restored buildings opened as a venue for conferences, business meetings and community events. The building is also used for a range of concerts.
Construction of a new "Welcome Wing" with facilities for education and the community, along with further restoration on the altars, decorations, and floor tiles, started in February 2016, following from a £1 million donation from Norman Stoller in September 2014, and £2 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund in December 2014. The wing, designed by Eco Arc, was built by HH Smith & Sons Ltd on the footprint of a building that was demolished in the 1960s. The long term aim was always for the building to be re-opened to the public and in June 2017 this finally happened with the monastery opened for free, 6 days a week with a cafe and shop.
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