Women around the world could soon be fighting the signs of ageing using a new beauty product containing an ingredient sourced from Brightlingsea mud.

Archaeologists working on ancient texts discovered under Colchester castle discovered that mud from the Colne estuary was once highly prized as a facepack by the concubines of Roman generals.

Now, the essential ingredient that helped put Camulodunum on the map has been extracted by French cosmetic scientists and added to a revolutionary face cream called Secret de Boué.

The scientists are hopeful that a major international cosmetics and perfume house will soon be manufacturing the cream – and that it will be readily available on beauty counters as a result.

The team behind the new product are staying tight-lipped about just what the secret ingredient is. For the time being it’s going under the code name ‘0104’.

According the scientists, the cream has shown to have a noticeable smoothing effect on wrinkles and produces a “youthful, glowing complexion”.

The team’s chief chemist, Avril Poisson, also believes that something of the ingredient is found in the sea breezes that blow over the mud over Brightlingsea.

“We noticed that Brightlingsea women looked incredibly youthful when compared with women from Clacton,” she said. “We think this proves that the mud has something to do with the anti-ageing effect, because Clacton’s coastline is mostly sand.”

And the good news is that for every ton of mud extracted, the town will receive a number of bottles of the cream in return. The exact quantity is yet to be confirmed, but it will be available free of charge – ensuring that everyone in the town will have the chance to look younger for longer.