An article excerpt including a photograph of W H Collier workers and a description of the brick making process.

Other skills involve scooping off a clot, throwing it into a wooden mould and squeezing it into shape.

In the drying and firing process nothing is left to chance.

Each brick much yield up to 2lbs of water through warm air recovered from the kiln circulating around unfired bricks for a fortnight.

Loaded into the tunnel-like kiln with great precision they travel steadily through for up to three days, passing through temperatures of up to 1040 degrees C.

Cooled and stored, individual bricks - each with their own smiles as the brickmaker calls them - are built to last centuries.

Up to 100 men were employed at Collier's Church Lane brickworks in the early part of the century, but today the process is operated by 20 skilled workers.

They've seen demand for traditional bricks growing for both new projects and restoration work.

Their quality products are to be found in Colchester at the Mercury Theatre and the Cowdray Avenue sports centre.