After the Great Fire of London in 1666 a law was passed forbidding rebuilding in wood. The rocks beneath London and its surrounds are comparatively young (less than 100 million years) and for the most part are not hard enough to make a good building stone, so instead the local clay was used to make bricks. The cemetery wall shows typical yellow London stock handmade bricks containing charred remains of ashes added to the Brickearth to aid firing, and squelch marks where the clay was thrown into the moulds.
Nearest train station: Woolwich Dockyard
Distance: 1.3 km (0.8 miles)
Listen to points of interest on this time trail:
- Point of Interest 1: Download an MP3 of Woolwich Dockyard Station
- Point of Interest 2: Download an MP3 of Brick retaining wall
- Point of Interest 3: Download an MP3 of Charlton Cemetery wall
