40 CONTEXT 186 : DECEMBER 2025 DAVID ANDREWS Celebrating brick gothic The European Route of Brick Gothic and Centre of Brick Gothic Architecture bring together conservation expertise, and create cultural and economic benefits. In England after Roman times there was occasional production and use of brick from the 12th century, but its consistent production on a wide scale did not resume until the 15th century. Even then, it was limited to chimneys and great houses. Elsewhere in northern Europe, the picture is very different. Brick was used for ecclesiastical buildings from at least the 12th century and there are late gothic churches with soaring brick vaults as well as town centres with brick houses with steep crow-stepped gables. This architectural heritage is a unifying factor celebrated in a variety of initiatives that bring together places with notable brick buildings in northern Europe. The potential for linking this shared brick heritage was recognised as long ago as the 1970s. However, it is the changed circumstances since 1989, with the opportunity and need to preserve neglected buildings and town centres, that have brought such ideas to fruition. A conference on the brick architecture of east and central Europe was held in 1996 in Marienburg and its proceedings published. In 2002 an exhibition, Paths to Brick Gothic, was held, and the European Union launched an Interreg project, the European Route of Brick The town hall, Stralsund, Germany (Photo: J-H Janssen, Wikimedia)
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