Brickwork, Landscaping & Driveways in Halstead

A Victorian mill town

Halstead grew around the silk and crepe mills of the Courtauld family, and Townsford Mill still spans the River Colne at the foot of the High Street. The company and the prosperity it brought left the town with a great deal of Victorian and Edwardian red brick housing, from workers’ terraces to larger villas.

Brickwork of that age is generally well built but now needs attention. Typical jobs are repointing weathered elevations, rebuilding chimney stacks, and replacing frost-damaged bricks one at a time so the wall keeps its character.

Built on a hill

The town climbs steeply from the river, so sloping gardens and stepped driveways are common. Retaining walls here do real structural work and need the right thickness, footing and drainage for the height of ground they hold back. On a sloping drive, block paving needs firm edge restraints and a drainage channel at the bottom of the fall.