Find among the roof tiles at the Rosenlundska house in Kalmar

One of the most magnificent houses from the 17th century on Kvarnholmen is the Rosenlundska, which was completed in the 1650s. On the roof today is a sumptuous black-glazed artisanal brick, but until now it has been uncertain how old the brick is, but it has been assumed that it was laid sometime in the 19th century. None of the other 17th-century houses have a hewn limestone eaves or a glazed brick roof, Rosenlundska stands out from the crowd. During the ongoing renovation, it turned out that all the tiles on the roof were not the same, but consisted of several variants. Some of the rows of bricks were slightly more cupped than the others. The black glaze was thicker on these pans and the quality of the glaze was higher than on the others. All this gave hope that perhaps these brick boilers were really old. It was only when it was possible to take down the ancient bricks that the discovery was made. A stamp in the brick on the back of the boiler showed that the brick boiler was made in Lübeck! The stamp in the form of a key with the letters SP shows that this brick pan and the others with the same shape and appearance were made at the St. Petri brickworks in Lübeck in northern Germany. Brickworks were active for a very long time, perhaps as early as the 13th century, the first preserved accounts are from 1505. The brickworks ceased production in 1907. Why were roof tiles imported from Lübeck to Kalmar? There are preserved accounts from the 17th century which show that roof tiles were imported from Lübeck. Kalmar was a major shipping port for tar, butter and wood products, and brick was a good and attractive commodity for the skipper to fill the holds with on the return journey. Is it possible to determine whether these particular brick pans are really as old as the building, from the 17th century? The shape of the brick corresponds to how brick pans looked in the 17th century and into the first half of the 18th century. This together with the preserved accounts from the import make us convinced that we are dealing with brick boilers from the 17th century. RE