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The
ebb and flow of local industry –
including rope-making, the saltworks,
brickmaking, ironworks, milling, the
town’s own gas and electricity
companies, brewing and even
hosiery and mattress making – have shaped Southwold’s
working life and prosperity. |
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Rope-making,
milling, ironwork, brewing: Southwold’s
residents have found plenty of alternatives
to the age-old local occupation of fishing.
Southwold has produced a wealth of entrepreneurs
. By the late 19th century the town even
had its own electricity, gas and water
companies.
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| The
Smith & Girling flour mill
at North Green pictured here
soon after its completion in
the 1890s. The original building
is still recognisable though
converted into flats. Click
for more. P273 |
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The
local fishing industry itself yielded
some enterprising spin-offs. William
Button was the best-known rope manufacturer
in the town, hand-spinning and lacing
rope and twine.
John
May manufactured coarse salt
for preserving the fish and, by
blending it with mined salt from
Cheshire, he also created a table
salt much sought-after by gourmets
of the day.
Southwold’s
famous brewer and largest employer,
Adnams,
is based on a business which began
life at the back of the Swan Hotel
in 1641. Successful local iron founder
Edmund
Child has left his mark on the
town in the form of gas lights,
churchyard gates and the town pump
in the Market Place. Other ventures
weren’t so long-lived. Southwold’s
own Homeknit
Hosiery Company, which once
supplied Harrods, closed in the
1960s after fifty years in
business.
Use the links
below to explore Southwold’s
industrial history in more detail.
Brewing
Hosiery
and bedding manufacture
Iron
founding
Milling
Public
Utilities (Gas, water, electricity)
Rope
making
Salt
manufacture
Shops and Trades
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SOUTHWOLD'S
LEADING BRANDS
Click
the advertisements to find out more
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