EPW001774 ENGLAND (1920). Guildhall Street area, Bury St. Edmunds, 1920

Is this industrial area the Boby factory? Robert Boby of Bury St Edmunds started out as an ironmonger in the 1850s. By the 1870s Robert Boby Ltd had expanded to the manufacture of agricultural implements such as winnowing and grain cleaning machinery, malting and milling equipment and machinery for processing flax. The building was the biggest factory in Bury St Edmunds, employing nearly 200 men. A 19th century writer reported that: “There is no part of England where the implements of agriculture are more perfect than in Suffolk … This is owing in a very great measure to the very excellent manufacturers of agricultural implements who live in the county.” In 1972, the factory was closed, resulting in the loss of 270 jobs.

College Street workhouses

Feoffment almshouses

Unitarian Meeting House

Guildhall

St John's church

Prospect Row, Bury St leading to the Cattle market

Cupola House, sadly destroyed by fire June 2012

The Corn Exchange

Moyses Hall, now a museum