Peter 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿from Scotland🇪🇺

The brick spiral staircase inside the tower of the Moot Hall in Maldon (1420 AD), England... Tucked inside the tower of Maldon’s Moot Hall, this brick spiral staircase has been winding upward since about 1420. It was built during a time when English towns were growing in power and needed durable civic buildings to host courts, markets, and town meetings. The staircase led to upper rooms used for storage, oversight, and sometimes defense, all while taking up as little space as possible. Unlike grand stone staircases found in castles, this one was constructed from brick, which was still a relatively modern and costly material in medieval England. Each brick was laid by hand, and no two steps are exactly alike. The tight curve and steep rise weren’t just practical; they slowed movement and made the tower easier to control if unrest broke out below. The wear on the steps tells its own story. Generations of townspeople—magistrates, traders, messengers—climbed these same bricks for more than six centuries. Medieval brick spirals like this were often self-supporting, meaning the staircase helps hold up the tower itself—an early example of form and structure working as one long before modern engineering formulas existed. #archaeohistories