The internal decorative treatment of 16th- and 17th-century brick in Suffolk

Sections of 16th-century paintwork on exterior brick faces have previously been recorded in the southern counties of Britain, but the use of pigment to decorate internal brickwork, and the reasons for its continued use for at least two centuries in Suffolk, are here examined. Comparative random observations confirming this method of enhancing internal brick surfaces, outside the area of detailed examination, extend to Norfolk and Essex, but the expectation is that the practice may be found nationally wherever brick hearths occur. The examples used are only a small proportion of the total viewed to date.