Traditional Skills

These houses in Henley are another superb example of the use of local materials in the construction of houses. This again combines the locally made bricks with flint, as well as oak beams supporting the upper story.


This section of walling illustrates two of the methods of using the flint nodules. It is thought that the individual pieces of flint started out as sponges, which dissolved when dead, leaving an ooze behind. This ooze was then trapped in the chalk and over millions of years has hardened in to the flint we see today. In the example above, the bottom section is built using random flints; literally how they came out of the chalk. The panel above is called knapped flintwork. In this, the flints are cracked to expose a sheer face of darker flint.