Lego may be the most popular construction toy today, but at the beginning of the 20th century, Lott’s Bricks of Vale Road in Bushey was doing its utmost to put British toy-making firmly on the map.

Visitors to Bushey Museum can discover the history of Lott’s toys, which included items such as stone draughts, block puzzles, chemistry sets and a wide range of imitation stone construction bricks sold in themed sets with detailed instructions on how to make a variety of buildings.

Looking at the sets on display, Lott’s bricks could be used to make a number of buildings per box including bus stations, coach garages, Tudor and Arts and Crafts houses, a market hall, village church, bathing hut, hay barn, pierrot stage, seaside bungalow and a well. On closer inspection, one set even appeared to contain plans for a sanitorium.

Other items such as a footbridge, goods shed, halt and signal cabin made the blocks popular among model railway enthusiasts.

The secret of Lott’s success came about through wartime resitrictions on German imports. At the start of World War One, German toy manufacturers such as Richter, who made Anchor blocks, were dominating the toy industry until the Government banned German goods and offered assistance to homegrown firms if they went into toy production. As well as boosting the local economy, the move to produce British-made toys provided jobs for ex-servicemen.

English manufacturer EA Lott created his own sets of imitation stone construction blocks, which were slightly larger than the German designs. Architect Arnold Mitchell worked with Lott to create the correct brick shapes that could be used to make all kinds of buildings. Together with a cardboard roof and instructions, he started selling them as Lott’s Bricks in 1918. According to the V&A Museum, the display of Lott’s bricks at the British Industries Fair that year attracted one very important and influential customer – Queen Mary purchased a set and Lott’s reputation soared.

Earlier sets consisted of plain blocks in two colours, cream and either red or black. Later sets were made up of cream blocks with embossed surface decoration to denote walls, timber and doors. Some boxes included paints so that children could colour the details in though pre-painted versions soon superseded these.

As well as looking at the array of models and beautifully rendered promotional paintings of the Lott’s series by JA Swan, children can have a go at constructing some of the buildings – which makes a visit to the museum more memorable for them. The bricks are satisfyingly heavy to handle and the slightly gritty surface allows them to be stacked quite easily. The jointed cardboard roofs are a bit trickier though, as they tend to slip off if not perfectly aligned. My family’s miniature house building talents did not stretch to working on anything as complicated as a four-gabled house, but we had fun playing with toys from a time when imagination and manual dexterity were all you needed for enjoyment.

Bushey Museum is open Thursday to Sunday from 11am to 4pm. Admission is free. Details: 020 8420 4057