In the event only some dozen “New Churches” were built under the Act but the first ten were of major importance both architecturally and for Tylers and Bricklayers. These ten churches were St Alphege, Greenwich, itself begun in 1712 and designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, St Paul, Deptford, begun in 1712 and designed by Thomas Archer, St John’s, Smith Square, begun in 1713 and designed by Archer, St George’s, Hanover Square, begun in 1713 and designed by John James, St Anne, Limehouse, St George in Upper Wapping and Christchurch, Spitalfields, all begun in 1714 and designed by Hawksmoor, St Mary– le–Strand, begun in 1714 and designed by James Gills, and St George’s, Bloomsbury and St Mary, Woolwich both begun in 1716 and designed by Hawksmoor.

The Act for the building of the fifty new churches provided for the appointment of Commissioners to be responsible for carrying out the work and of surveyors who were to supervise the work and report on its progress to the Commissioners. The reports of the latter still exist in the library at Lambeth Palace and at an early stage begin to complain of defective bricklaying and badly made bricks. On the 10th December 1713 the surveyors refer to the use of defective bricks on the foundations of St John’s, Smith Square, which they describe as “commonplace bricks , mixed with sea coke ashes, after the infamous way of the City of London” which were “burnt to a cinder except for a quantity that are ‘ ….’ And not thoroughly burnt”. On the 30th December in the same year they recommend that “no Spanish be used .. for it the brickmaker gets liberty to put in the least quantity of Spanish they (sic) cake mix what they please and pretend that it is no more than allowed by the Commissioners”. On the 13th May 1714 the Tylers and Bricklayers Company wrote a letter to the Commissioners, which is now in the Lambeth Palace Library, having said that:

“It is with much regret we have for several years past observed the bricks made round this city to be very bad and of late worse than ever; and according to the powers granted us by Royal Charter and our Ordinances; have yearly appointed searchers … to view and destroy such bad materials. So on to express the opinion “that the badness of bricks proceeds from the practice of using ashes commonly called Spanish in making bricks begun about forty years since, occasioned by digging up several fields contiguous to the city after the Great Fire which fields having been much dunged with ashes it was observed the bricks made with earth in those fields would be sufficiently burned with one half of the coles commonly used since which time, coles being by the high duties on them of more value here, the quantity of Spanish is increased, especially since the habit of strewing houses with sand hath prevailed the dust bucket in every house being the common receptacle for sand as well as ashes so that the Spanish hath not the force as formerly since the corrupt mixture of it; which excessive quantity so corruptly mixed we take to be a great occasion of the badness of bricks”

The Company clearly felt under pressure to do something to increase the effectiveness of its control over the craft and (arguably?) the quality of brick manufacture within its 15 mile radius and the only … it had to hand were the powers conferred on it by the Charter of 1568 and the rules and ordinances made thereunder and approved in 1571 in accordance with the Statute of 1503. For the next few years it seems to have made strenuous efforts to carry out the twice yearly searches for defective bricks and tiles as well as brick sand and mortar. The difficulties of enforcement remained an obstacle and especially it must have been thought that although the old ordinance specifies the amount of the fine for some purposes there were no specifies fines for making or offering for sale defective bricks of tiles and in particular no sliding scale for the quantities involved.