Image: Foraine brick en

Description: Difference between a "foraine" brick and a regular brick. The "foraine" brick is the traditional building material used in the Toulouse region (France) since at least the 11th century. This name would come from the Latin "foraneus", meaning "which comes from elsewhere", because the "foraine" bricks were originally made in a brickyard and not on the building site itself (they were of better quality). In the 19th century, the name used was still "forane", not "foraine", which tends to support the theory of a Latin origin. This term, which used to indicate the quality of the bricks, has now become a generic term for all bricks of this format from the Toulouse region. This explains why the literal translation "fairground brick", for french "brique foraine", does not seem appropriate and is not used here. Inherited from the Roman brick, the ratio of width to length of a "foraine" brick is 2/3 (as opposed to 1/2 for a regular brick), which is not conducive to the creation of a regular pattern with aligned vertical joints. This is why architectural decorations were mainly made with bricks cut to create mouldings, cornices and other decorations.
Title: Foraine brick en
Credit: Own work
Author: Frédéric Neupont
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Attribution Required?: Yes