The Warboys Brick Works produced a distinctive type of brick known as "Warboys White". These light-coloured bricks were highly sought after and used extensively in construction projects across the region. The brick works handmade the white bricks from 1893, was located in Warboys village, Cambridgeshire.
 
The bricks got their pale hue from the local gault clay, a stiff, bluish-grey clay that fired to a yellowish-white colour due to its low iron content. This gault clay was the key ingredient that gave Warboys Whites their unique chalky appearance.
 
Millions of these creamy white "waffers", as they were nicknamed by the brickies, were shipped out and used to construct houses, churches, schools and other buildings in nearby towns like Ramsey, as well as farther afield in places like Nottinghamshire. Fine examples of architecture featuring Warboys Whites can still be seen today, like the traditional British Queen pub in the village of Meldreth, with its distinctive white brick chimney stack.
 
So in summary, the famous pale "Warboys Waffers" owed their light color to the iron-poor gault clay sourced locally. Their pleasing aesthetic made them a prized building material across the East of England for decades.
 
Small brickworks like Warboys were often taken over by large brick companies in the 1930s. Warboys Brickworks was itself acquired by the London Brick Company in 1923. Brick production ceased during the 1950s and then finally taken over by the Hanson Trust it closed in the 1980s.
 
A large quantity of reclaimed Cambridge 'War Boys' White Gault handmade bricks are currently for sale on the SalvoWEB marketplace from the Reclaimed Brick Company. All the bricks have been carefully hand sorted, cleaned and stacked on pallets ready to use. See the link to their advert.