Paul, there's another type of soft red Victorian brick seen in the UK, where the grog was mixed with small quartz pebbles. Not many in each brick, but ALWAYS one just where you wanted to drill a hole for a plug!
Vernacular construction techniques varied with the local availability of materials, which is why we have such a wide variety of build methods in the world. You have to admit that a timber-frame house building site is much cleaner than the usual UK 'wet trades' method with mortar and bricks/blocks and the rattle of the Mixer. These hell-holes usually resemble the Battle of the Somme, and pity any poor bugger wanting a serious garden afterwards, with all the topsoil stolen and replaced with a mixture of soggy clay and Evo-Stik. My late sister moved into a new house in the sixties and my brother-in-law unearthered a complete Dumper Truck buried in the back garden, minus it's engine!
Alan
PS. have you ever seen 'The Plank', a no- dialog/sound effects film by Ronnie Barker?
Says it all about Brit building sites.
[This message has been edited by Alan Belson (edited 09-09-2005).]
