Other Sources of Employment and the Growth of the Town
In 1817 the Suffolk Chronicle carried a report of a meeting at Woodbridge at which the 'necessity of lighting the town was urged'. By 1838 a gas works had been built on the Quayside and the gas it produced was being used to light the town. Other Suffolk towns near the sea or navigable rivers also acquired gas works in the 1830s.
The gas works at Woodbridge was enlarged in 1872 to satisfy increased domestic demand and two large gas holders were installed. At about the same time the Trade Directories recorded the first gas fitter in the town. The gas holders are on the right hand side of this photograph.
Woodbridge Gas Light and Coke Company was producing gas on the Quay until at least 1929 when the area supplied by the Ipswich Gas Light Company was extended to encompass Woodbridge. The gas was piped from Ipswich but two gas holders were retained to regulate the supply. They remained standing until 1976.
The two gas holders are on the right of this photograph taken in about 1900. The corner of the Tide Mill is just visible on the far right.
Sometime between 1842 and 1844 Jas Bendall established an iron and brass foundry near what is now the junction of Lime Kiln Quay Road and The Thoroughfare. The foundry eventually became known as Bendall's Agricultural Implements and Engineering Works which produced foot ploughs and other agricultural implements as well as machines and wire fencing.
In the 1880s the foundry was taken over and its products were expanded to include a range of gas fittings and gas scrubbers. In 1894 the foundry changed hands again and a advert states that it was prepared to make castings of every description. The foundry closed in 1903 and six years later the premises was acquired by Adams Cycle and Motor Works. They were the makers of the St John pedal cycles and they became the first to cater for motorists in Woodbridge. The photograph on the left shows entrance to their premises in 1920.
From 1925 to 65 Potter & Bensley motor engineers occupied the foundry site. It was subsequently used by agents for agricultural equipment and then as a car show room and garage. In 1986 the buildings were demolished to make way for Suffolk Place, a complex of retirement flats.
Link to 1895 advert for the foundry.
The entrance to Adams Cycle and Motor Works is on the right of this 1920 photograph.
During the 1880s the Scarff family created a market garden by the Seckford Hospital. Part of the market garden, which was producing until the 1960s, is in the foreground of this photograph. The building in the background is the Seckford Hospital.
The family also ran a greengrocers in the Thoroughfare and advertised that their “fruit and vegetables were fresh from the garden”.
The Steel family had a market garden by Castle Street, in the area that is now Naverne Meadows.
Lower down Castle Street was Whitbread’s market garden which supplied their fruit shop in Sun Lane.
Part of the Scarff family's market garden. The building
in the background is the Seckford Hospital.
In 1910 Fred Smith started Suffolk Seed Store Ltd which had two large seed grounds and warehouse in the town. Sales were handled from his store at the corner of Cumberland Street and Church Street. The store, which is shown in this photograph, was destroyed by fire in 1916. The business then moved to the other side of the street and traded until 1991.
The Suffolk Seed Store at the corner of Cumberland Street
and Church Street' before it was destroyed by fire in 1916.
