15/09/2026
They probably thought it was just another day at work.
They picked up their tools, went to site, laid their bricks and went home to their families.
Just like we do.
They couldn’t have known that 157 years later, another bricklayer would stop in his tracks and admire what their hands had built.
And there’s something about that that really gets me.
The men who built this are long gone.
Their tools have gone.
Their stories have gone.
We’ll probably never even know their names.
But their work is still here.
Every header.
Every stretcher.
Every detail.
Someone stood on that scaffold in 1869 and placed those bricks one by one.
No lasers.
No modern machinery.
None of the equipment we take for granted today.
Just a trowel, a level, a pair of skilled hands and knowledge of a craft passed down through generations.
And look what they left behind.
Beautiful Flemish bond that has survived 157 years and still has the ability to make someone stop walking and just… look.
Then another property. Another generation of tradesmen. Beautiful English bond.
Different buildings. Different bonds. Different hands.
But the same thing connects them.
Craftsmanship.
I’ve spent more than 20 years laying bricks, and things like this remind me why I still love this trade.
Because when you’re on the tools every day, it’s easy to forget what you’re actually leaving behind.
You finish a wall.
You pack your tools away.
You move onto the next job.
And life carries on.
But the brickwork stays.
It sees families come and go.
Children grow up.
Generations pass.
The world around it changes.
And if you’ve done your job properly, there’s a chance that long after you’re gone, someone you’ve never met might stop, look up at your work and appreciate what you created.
Those bricklayers in 1869 never got to see their work become history.
They never got to see me standing there 157 years later admiring it.
But I hope they took pride in it when they put that last brick down.
Because all these years later…
we’re still looking.
Timeless.
Elegant.
Traditional.
The hands may be gone. The craftsmanship remains. 🧱❤️
