Thanks for the replies I've received so far. Current opinion suggests
the factory is for refining imported raw sugar, although it has also
been suggested that it is the first, to an extent experimental, sugar
beet factory.
Couple of clarifications: Cane sugar does not grow well in the UK
(I believe). Lavenham is in the heart of rural East Anglia, miles from
any port and not on a navigable river.
In my eyes, Lavenham's lack of transport facilities virtually rules out
the refining of imported sugar.
original message:
> I have noticed a disused sugar factory marked on a OS map of
> Lavenham in Suffolk, dated c.1885.
>
> I don't know much about this particular industry but I thought that
> factories would need to be near to raw material and that sugar-beet
> and sugar-beet factories didn't come about until the 1920s.
>
> Are Victorian sugar factories in the UK an already known and well
> documented thing (if so has anybody got any references), or is this
> factory something unusual? Perhaps I've jumped to the wrong
> conclusion and sugar wasn't actually produced there, but products
> made from sugar.......?
>
> Any thoughts? (polite ones only please)
>
> M. Sommers
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