Kiln

Hand-thrown brick stack in open air with late-afternoon side light raking across terracotta surface, pores and iron flecks visible, blurred meadow and treeline in background

Hand-pressed · Kiln-fired · Local clay

Every BrickStarts as Earth.

From the quarry to your wall — tell us your project and we'll find the brick that belongs there.

See How We Make Them

40+

brick varieties

1,200°C

firing temperature

6 weeks

clay to pallet

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The Process

From clay seam to
finished course.

Six stages. No shortcuts. The same sequence every batch, in every season.

Close-up of raw terracotta clay being extracted from an open quarry face, rich ochre and brown tones with visible mineral layers

Quarried locally

Stage 01

Clay Extraction

We pull clay from the same seam of Jurassic mudstone that local builders have worked for three centuries. The quarry face changes colour with the seasons — blue-grey in winter rain, ochre in August heat. We dig only what the week demands.

Clay plasticity index: 18–24 · Extraction depth: 2–4 metres · No additives

Hands working with freshly pugmilled clay in a pottery workshop, smooth terracotta-coloured clay being shaped and prepared

Blended by hand

Stage 02

Pugmilling & Blending

The raw clay is fed through a pug mill twice — once to break up stones and roots, once to achieve an even, workable consistency. We blend in a proportion of grog from crushed fired seconds; it opens the body, reduces shrinkage, and gives the finished brick its characteristic speckled texture.

Shrinkage at drying: 4–6% · Grog content: 15–20% · Moisture target: 22%

Potter pressing clay into a wooden mould with both hands, side-lit workshop showing texture and grain of the clay surface

One at a time

Stage 03

Hand Pressing

Each brick is pressed by hand into a sanded wooden mould — the same motion, repeated eight hundred times a day. The excess is struck off with a wire bow. The slight variations in pressure and the way the clay falls into corners are what give our bricks the face texture that no machine can replicate.

Green brick weight: ~3.2 kg · Mould dimensions: 215 × 102.5 × 65 mm · Pressed one at a time

Rows of unfired green bricks stacked on wooden drying racks in a barn, warm afternoon light filtering through gaps in the timber walls

Two weeks, naturally

Stage 04

Drying

Green bricks rest on slatted timber racks in the open drying shed for two weeks. Air moves through the gaps; temperature and humidity are left to the season. This slow drying is not inefficiency — it is what prevents the cracking that fast-dried bricks carry invisibly into the wall.

Drying period: 10–14 days · Target moisture before kiln: <3% · Reject rate at this stage: ~2%

Interior of a traditional down-draught kiln glowing orange with intense heat, bricks stacked in careful arches visible in the firelight

1,180°C · 36 hours

Stage 05

Kiln Firing

We use a down-draught kiln fired with natural gas over a 36-hour cycle. Temperature climbs slowly to 1,180°C, holds for eight hours, then falls over twelve. The colour variation you see in a finished course — the darker hearts, the iron flashing, the occasional blue-grey vitrification — all comes from this one firing.

Peak temperature: 1,180°C · Total cycle: 36 hours · Colour variation: inherent, not a defect

Finished fired bricks stacked on wooden pallets in a yard, warm terracotta tones with natural colour variation, rural background

Hand-sorted, nothing wasted

Stage 06

Grading & Despatch

Every brick is hand-sorted after cooling. Firsts go to conservation and façade work. Seconds — slightly uneven arises, minor lime spots — go to walling and landscaping at a reduced price. Nothing is wasted. We load pallets ourselves and deliver on our own truck within a 60-mile radius.

Compressive strength: ≥20 N/mm² · Water absorption: 8–14% · Frost resistance: F2 class

In Situ

The journey was
worth following.

Every photograph shows a real project. Every brick in it came from this yard.

Handmade terracotta bricks laid in traditional English bond forming a garden wall, warm afternoon light casting shadows across the textured surface

Garden boundary wall

Oxfordshire

Herringbone brick path through cottage garden, terracotta bricks with natural colour variation bordered by low lavender hedges

Herringbone path

Somerset

Georgian farmhouse facade restoration with hand-pressed bricks matching original 18th century brickwork, lime mortar pointing visible

Farmhouse extension

Gloucestershire

Stack of freshly fired handmade bricks showing natural colour variation from terracotta to deep char, pallet in open yard

Conservation façade

Wiltshire

Brick arch over a cottage doorway, hand-made bricks with iron flecks and natural colour variation, climbing roses alongside

Village hall restoration

Dorset

Self-build home

Herefordshire

Garden wallsFarmhouse extensionsHerringbone pathsConservation facadesVillage restorationsCottage gardensSelf-build homesGeorgian repairs

The Yardman's Advice

Find Your Brick

Four questions. The same ones we'd ask if you walked into the yard.

Tell us about your project and we'll suggest three bricks from the yard — the ones we'd point you toward if you were standing here with us.

From the people who use them

The brick earns
its place over time.

“We matched a Georgian farmhouse wall that had stood for 230 years. Kiln sent samples, we held them against the original in morning and afternoon light, and the Georgian Blend was indistinguishable at three metres. That's the standard conservation work demands.”

Eleanor Ashworth

Conservation Architect, RIBA

Cirencester

“I'd been looking for herringbone path bricks for eight months. Everything online was either machine-made or the wrong colour. The Tumbled Antique was exactly what the garden needed — like the path had been there since the house was built.”

Tom Gallagher

Self-build homeowner

Malvern

“I specify Kiln on every project where the client wants a brick that looks like it was made nearby, because it was. The colour variation is an honest product of the process, not a marketing decision. Contractors appreciate the consistency of the seconds grade for walling.”

Priya Menon

Landscape Architect

Oxford

RIBA CPD Provider

Registered

Historic England

Approved supplier

BS EN 771-1

Certified

60-mile

Own-truck delivery

Ready to begin?

The yard is open.
The bricks are waiting.

Walk through the quiz, request samples, or call the yard directly. We're a small operation and we answer the phone.

01865 000 000