'I've got one of the UK's most bizarre collections - I'm desperate to find a museum for it'

A man with Britain's biggest brick collection is looking for a to house them all - as it swells to over 4,000.

Mark Cranston, 62, began the bizarre hobby nearly fifteen years ago when he was looking for a as a doorstop for his garden shed. He found a white painted brick from a former colliery and the discovery inspired the retired police sergeant to look into the history of the brick.

His passion for them grew from there and over the last fourteen years, dedicated Mark has amassed a huge collection from , England, Wales and abroad. He stores the rare bricks in his garden shed which the dad-of-two has had to extend over the years as his collection grew at his home in Jedburgh, Scottish Borders.

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It now measures six metres long by three metres wide with multiple shelves - like a library - to store the bricks. But he is now trying to find a permanent home to store his much-loved collection.

Mark said: "It would be ideal having a museum where they are all in display. It is a story that needs to be told - they are all so full of character. It will be selfish keeping them around and we think we should share their story."

Mark explained he would like to have different items and tools associated with bricks on the museum. Among his collection he has a fire brick that was salvaged from the SS Politician, which ran aground in the Outer Hebrides in 1941 and was carrying 264,000 bottles of malt whisky - inspiring the famous novel Whisky Galore.

He has a brick that in the late 90s was retrieved from the demolition of the execution block at Glasgow's HMP Barlinnie, Scotland's largest prison. Mark also has a Scottish made brick from an old gold mine in Washington state, USA, and the oldest brick he has is a drainage tile from 1833.

He said: "It is a collection that you will never see again because these bricks are not produced anymore. They were heat resistant used in chimneys and stoves to protect metal work.

"They did not break down - they were used in numerous industrial situations and they were part of the industrial revolution." He admitted he will 'miss' the bricks when they find a new home.

"I am always cleaning or re-arranging the bricks," he said. "It is amazing how many people are interested. Since I started it is amazing how many people started collecting as well."

The eccentric collector shares this passion with his friend Ian Suddaby - and together they own 6,000 different bricks. Mark added: "The idea is that we would look after each others bricks but we want to put it in a museum. We spent a lot of time finding these bricks."

He says Jedburgh would be the ideal place to get the museum but he is aware of the costs involved with getting space and money for a museum. He said that the idea is 'all up in the air' but that he would be open to suggestions from people who would like to help them with this quest.

He added: "We don't want to lose them and Scotland doesn't want to lose them." Mark has racked up around 75 percent of his collection through his own excursions and 25 percent from kind donations. And collecting is a family affair, as Mark's wife Karen, 47, son Jonathon, 28, and daughter Hannah, 30, have also got involved with his brick hunting.