WHEN Victorian architects planned Britain's grandest railway station they turned to a family firm from Ballingdon for the bricks.

History was repeated nearly 150 years later when architects restoring London's King Cross St Pancras Station turned to a small company, no more than two miles from the original brickmakers.

For staff at the Bulmer Brick and Tile Company supplying the station, now London's Eurostar train hub, was a "once- in-a-lifetime opportunity".

The yard, which employs just 20 people, made up to 28,000 bricks for the station.

The fully renovated building, with its high-speed link to Paris, was unveiled to much fanfare this month.

Tony Minter, who oversaw the project and whose father Peter owns the Bulmer company, said: "Much has been made about the new building but no one has really grasped the fact that a business working on the same clay seams as the company that provided the original bricks has made the replacements.

"That is absolutely astonishing when you consider that since the station was first built there have been two world wars and difficult economic situations that have forced businesses to close."

The brickyard's location and reputation made it the obvious choice to replace the bricks, which originally came from the Allen family yard, based in Ballingdon.

It was vital that the new red bricks matched the originals.

Mr Minter said: "When it was discovered the bricks were from Ballingdon the architect came straight to us, knowing that we are working on the same clay seam and still in production.

"It is a grade-one listed building so you have to be very precise and we had to take samples before the architect. But the most important thing was to have the right clay type and the right match."

It is not unusual to discover bricks from this part of the world but, according to Mr Minter, it is far from common to find a firm still operating on the same clay.

"Ballingdon was one of the largest brick producers in Europe during the Victorian era," said Mr Minter. "It would be a guess but I would say that between half and two-thirds of all brick used in London between 1830 and 1900 came from either Ballingdon or Middleton.

"But yards in Sudbury sold off land around them and then eventually their clay ran out. Although a brickmaker has been on this site since 1450, in many ways being a bit of a backwater has enabled us to maintain a clay supply and survive."

The St Pancras project took between three and four years, as they supplied bricks for 50 of the station's huge arches.

Everything was done at Bulmer right up to the cutting of the bricks and by a team of just five people.

"We had two or three people working in the cutting shop, one guy who made all the bricks and one guy who prepared all the clay," said Mr Minter.

"People couldn't understand how a small business could carry a job like this out but, for us, it was just like a lot of small jobs. There were 50 arches was 50 small jobs.

"It's been fantastic so see the work progressing. I have not been up there for nine months but it has been great to see it slowly taking shape, especially having seen it as a building site with a forest of cranes around it for so long. It is an extraordinary building."

But it is not the first extraordinary building the company has worked on – it also provided expertise during work at Windsor Castle and Hampton Court.

Mr Minter said: "Once you get a Grade I listed building they are always fascinating jobs. You get to see parts of the building members of the public just don't get to see.

"So, we were delighted and very proud to have been part of the long overdue restoration of St Pancras. It will probably be another 150 years before any brickmaker is able to do what we have done."