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We always have a large range of bricks in stock. But, bear in mind, a brick is not, as many people think, simply a brick. There are various types of brick and each brickyard would have produced a different variation within each of these types (since brick making began there have been hundreds of recorded brickyards in Sussex alone). On this page you can see some of the processes involved in reclaiming bricks, scroll down to see images of varying bricks.
Although there is now a standard size used in modern brick making, in times past bricks were made in varying sizes, depending on age and origin. There is also a large diversity of colours and textures. These contrast occur due to variations in the clay used and different methods of making the bricks (i.e. by hand or machine) plus differences in the actual kilns. Please note that any information given here refers only to period bricks and is not relevant to modern bricks.

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All our bricks are cleaned by hand which is an horrendous task, but it does give the bricks a better finish than machine cleaning. Because of the nature of the materials and the way they were made it is always best to view the items in person, particularly if trying to match to existing. On this page are some example of the varying types, click on the images to see more.
RED KILN BRICKS
Red kilns are handmade and tend to be a solid brick in tone of reds and oranges, generally they will have creasing on the surface which gives them an attractive soft look. Within this category are also what we, in this area, call 'Ashburnham' bricks, which is a red kiln brick with normally a blue header (although this can be anything from pale gray to black and even green on occasions).

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MULTI-STOCK BRICKS
Multi-stock bricks are generally handmade, are an open textured rustic brick and, as the name dictates, come in a wide variety of colours - anything from pale orange through to dark purple and even yellow. Each batch of multi-stocks will be different, some a pale mix, some a dark mix and anything in between.
WIRECUT AND ENGINEERING BRICKS
Wirecuts and Engineerings are machine made and are a solid, hard and often crisp looking brick. They started being produced in the early Victorian times so machine made doesn't necessarily mean modern. Batches can either be all one colour or multi-coloured, some have almost a sheen to the surface whereas others can have a crackled surface. Many batches can be used for paving due to their high density.

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PAVING BRICKS
Paving bricks are always a hard brick in order to cope with wear and weather and tend to be thinner than a standard walling brick. What we call a Victorian Paviour (a generalization) tends to be a mix of reds and oranges with some dark overtones, but there are, of course, many variations. We also keep in stock a reproduction paviour with a smooth but slightly pitted surface which will weather down beautifully. Stable bricks (also called Crossovers) are normally 'Staffordshire blue' (blue/purple/almost black) in colour with a surface that is commonly divided into two, four or eight squares, although occasionally a diamond pattern. Some Red Kiln, Wirecut and Engineering bricks can be used for paving.
SPECIALS
There are many types of special bricks within the categories of Copings (for topping walls), Shaped (for creating details within walls) and airbricks. Due to the difficulty in getting decent quantities of originals we keep a small selection of reproduction specials in the more common styles.

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