It's a Brickfielder, cobber

Whilst looking for information on red brick dust, I came across a reference to a Brickfielder. Quoted in the Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911, it is:

... a term used in Australia for a hot scorching wind blowing from the interior, where the sandy wastes, bare of vegetation in summer, are intensely heated by the sun. This hot wind blows strongly, often for several days at a time, defying all attempts to keep the dust down, and parching all vegetation ...

Full entry at: http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Brickfielder

Weatheronline.co.uk illuminates further:

The hot northerly wind [in Australia] blew across the Brickfields, formerly so called, a district of Sydney and carried clouds of reddish dust from the brickworks over the nascent city - thus the name: Brickfielder. However, another - agricultural - explanation comes from the hot and dry character of the northerly wind itself, turning the surface of the already dry soil hard as bricks. Therefore, by confusion, every dry, hot wind from the north might be called a Brickfielder today. The Brickfielder is related to the Argentinian Zonda wind.

Full entry: http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wind/Brickfielder.htm

And just for good measure, a picture of some preserved brickwork buildings in Sydney!:

Another use for bricks: Red Brick Dust

Whilst watching the film The Skeleton Key (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397101/) I noticed that red brick dust was used to protect a room or house from those who would harm, as part of a voodoo ritual. This got me wondering if:

a) it really was a voodoo ritual (since we're dealing with Hollywood, aka the producers of Braveheart)
and
b) if so, how did it come about.

Unfortunately, I've only got access to the internet on this Sunday afternoon, but I did pick up a few likely sounding snippets:

The first organized voodoo ceremony in New Orleans is said to have taken place in an abandoned brickyard on Dumaine Street. It was probably presided over by Sanite Dede, the first of the great voodoo queens. (Voodoo was a matriarchy. The witch doctors and kings paled in comparison to the strong queens, always free women of color, never slaves, who reigned over the rituals). Repeated police raids on the brickyard drove the cultists out t0 Bayou St. John and Lake Pontchartrain ... Superstitious Creoles scrubbed their front stoops with brick dust to ward off curses
http://users.erols.com/irene/voodoo.htm

As usual, anything to do with brickyards, and we're into shady dealings of one kind or another! Though brick dust being used to ward off curses is hinting that brick has protective properties is rather nice.

Red Brick Dust, also known as Brick Dust, Red Dust, Red Powder or Reddening derives from the ancient use of red ochre clay for sacred purposes. For protection, sprinkle Red Brick Dust across the doorstep of your home. For money, drawing mix Red Brick Dust with cinnamon powder and brown sugar into water and scrub your doorstep inward for quick and continuous cash
http://www.indioproducts.com/webstore/product_info.php?products_id=7746

So there's Red Brick Dust for sale on the Internet ... I knew I'd missed a trick somewhere :-) My doorstep is gunning for a right scrubbing with brick dust plus cinnamon and brown sugar, and I can at least supply the brick dust for free!

And here is another supplier, who is obviously a wiccan:

http://forestgrove.wordpress.com/page/6/

But it was the reference to red ochre that got me really interested. It's known in prehistoric graves for examples, and there's a reference to a particular article (Red Ochre and Human Evolution: A Case for Discussion [and Comments and Reply] Ernst E. Wreschner, Ralph Bolton, Karl W. Butzer, Henri Delporte, Alexander Häusler, Albert Heinrich, Anita Jacobson-Widding, Tadeusz Malinowski, Claude Masset, Sheryl F. Miller, Avraham Ronen, Ralph Solecki, Peter H. Stephenson, Lynn L. Thomas and Heinrich Zollinger Current Anthropology, Vol. 21, No. 5 (Oct., 1980), pp. 631-644 ), first page here: http://www.jstor.org/pss/2741829 Definitely worth looking at the rest of the paper, when I get time to go to the University library some time. Meanwhile, there's some further information on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochre

So if red ochre isn't easily available, may be red brick dust will do. I'll go with that any time!

Framework Archaeology CBM reports on scribd

Ceramic building materials reports can be found here:

A total of 1,255 fragments of ceramic building material, weighing 155,408 g was recovered during evaluations and excavations at Stansted Airport:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3293770/Excavations-at-Stansted-Airport-Ceramic-Building-Material

Wessex Archaeology CBM reports on scribd

Ceramic building materials reports can be found here:

Cambourne New Settlement - Iron Age and Romano-British settlement on the clay uplands of west Cambridgeshire:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/15046387/Cambourne-Ceramic-Building-Material-and-Fired-Clay

Suburban life in Roman Durnovaria: Excavations at the former County Hospital Site, Dorchester, Dorset 2000–2001:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3200795/Roman-Durnovaria-13-Ceramic-building-material

York vicar in tile plea

(Photo from the Press 9/7/09)

The tiles of the Lady Chapel floor in All Saints Pavement, North Street, York, are being restored. The newspaper article can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/mmffov If you want to donate toward the restoration of the Lady Chapel go here: http://allsaints-northstreet.org.uk/restoration_olns.html