Our priceless collection of 6,000 bricks needs a new home


The biggest brick collection in the UK, which includes 6,000 Scottish-made bricks from around the world, needs a new home. Mark Cranston and Ian Suddaby, who have spent 15 years collecting the bricks, have agreed that if anything happens to one of them, the other will ensure their collection remains safe. However, the pair has now recognised the need for a secure permanent home for the priceless collection. Part of it is stored in two large stables in Mr Cranston’s garden in the Scottish Borders, while the rest is stacked outside Mr Suddaby’s house in East Lothian.

Mr Suddaby, an archaeologist who lives in New Winton, told BBC Scotland News that bricks are an important record of Scotland’s industrial past and that the history of brick-making, which was important during the industrial revolution, needs to be promoted to a wider audience. He added that his collection has completely outgrown his garden and the area around his house.

Their collection even surpasses that of The Brickworks Museum – the UK’s only brick museum – in Swanwick, Hampshire, which holds about 3,500 bricks. The men’s collection includes a special fire brick that was recovered from the SS Politician, which ran aground in the Outer Hebrides in 1941 and inspired the novel and film Whisky Galore! Additionally, they have a brick retrieved from the execution block at Barlinnie prison in Glasgow before it was demolished in the late 1990s.

Mr Cranston, a retired police sergeant, says that he and Mr Suddaby have catalogued every Scottish brick they have found or been given. He said the collection was unique as Scotland had been at the forefront of the industrial revolution. The retired officer said there were still thousands more Scottish bricks to find, and added that when he first started collecting in 2010, he asked the National Museum of Scotland how many different stamped Scottish bricks there were, and was told 350. He has now proven that figure is way off.

The men want to ensure their collection is saved for Scottish people and that it remains there for all time. While they are passionate about their collection and Mr Cranston admits the search for a museum might take a long time, they do not want to search for all of the bricks only for them to disappear when they are gone

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