Olde worlde language: building terms

[leftie]

Does anyone know what the Victorian and Georgians meant when they said, of building work that 'a wall was broken into'.


I am doing a bit of research on my house and the local squire paid for some work to be done for the widow who lived here 150 years ago where he has written this phrase on the invoice. I thought it might mean that they had cut a new door or window opening but might it also mean that a new wall was built or joined to an existing one?

[glocko]

leftie said:

the local squire paid for some work to be done for the widow

Purely out of the goodness of his heart???

[eccles]

perhaps he had a way with words, and the wall of her resistance was broken into, and he had his wicked way with her.....

[ZR1cliff]

Sounds like he could of meant the addition of a window or door....years a go there used to be a window tax ,so a lot of buildings looked like they had bricked up windows built in them to satisfy the symmetry of the building looks,these were sometimes openend up after the window tax was dropped,some historians would know more about this.

It could be that they added on an extension of a type and a wall was partly taken down for access to the extension or even just part of an internal wall taken down.

[rsvmilly]

Many windows were actually bricked in on properties to reduce tax liability.

[Eric Mc]

The term "broken through" is still used, isn't it?

[Zad]

I don't know for sure, but it sounds like: If you have a wall and (say) want to build another wall at right angles to it, rather than just butt up against the existing wall, you might break into it to bond the bricks of the new wall with the old wall. Similarly If you were building an extension to an existing wall and needed to mesh the new bricks in with the old ones for strength.

mike

[mrmaggit]

He put some form of access through an existing wall, either doorway or window, or even serving hatch.

[Sam_68]

Depending on the type of property, it might actually mean that the wall was broken into.

Stone walls in certain areas used to use a form of cavity construction, with stone inner & outer leaves and the cavity filled with rubble and assorted cr*p. I've broken into these sorts of walls on conversion jobs etc. and found all sorts of interesting stuff in there - beer botles, newspapers, pottery etc. Then, of course, there are Witch Bottles in certain areas of the country, but those are usually deliberately built in in certain locations.

Why it would have been broken into is another matter; it is probably more likely that they really meant 'broken through', for the purposes of forming a door or window opneing.