Industries I55 



Agricultural Industries. The basket-making and wicker industry of the 

 County is very long-standing. One of the first thmgs that struck Camden, 

 in 1587, was the "willows in great abundance, either growing wild or set 

 on the banks of rivers to prevent overflowing. It is of these that baskets 

 are made."' This fen occupation survived the draining, and, to-day, the 

 chief centres are Ely, Soham, Chatteris, Over, and Somersham (Hunts). 

 Here are made wicker-chairs, bottle-containers, and every form of wicker- 

 work. A different kind of basket is made at the Wisbech saw-mills. A 

 good local market was provided by the surrounding fruit district. The 

 Wisbech and District Fruit Growers Association bought up all the baskets, 

 before the output increased sufficiently to supply a national market. The 

 most important firm was Messrs Dewsbury Bros. Now, the British Basket 

 and Besto Co. Ltd. carries on the industry, and the timber-working firms 

 themselves have estabhshed departments for it. 



Timber-working at Wisbech was estabhshed during the nineteenth 

 century. The first cargo of foreign timber arrived at the port in 1 824, 

 brought by an EngHsh barque. The next himdred years saw considerable 

 expansion. The leading firm in the development is Messrs Enghsh Bros, 

 Ltd., and its raw material is mainly Norwegian. There are branches at 

 Sutton Bridge, Boston, and Peterborough, as well as at Cambridge itself; 

 and the firm has been a pioneer in the use of creosote oil for making wood 

 weatherproof The oil is forced into the timber by steam pressure in 

 air-tight cylinders, and, impregnated in this way, it withstands the effects 

 of damp without being coated either with tar or paint. Telegraph poles, 

 gateposts, and railway sleepers, submitted to this treatment, have remained 

 unrotted after fifty years' exposure. 



Characteristic occupations that have lingered into recent times are the 

 preparation of reed and sedge for thatching, the digging of turf for fuel, 

 the making of hurdles from willows ; Reach and Burwell were the main 

 centres near Cambridge; but now these activities have almost disappeared. 

 Another product of the soil provided material for the straw-plaiting 

 industry. This once flourished in the south-west of the County at Little 

 Gransden and Littlington, but now the only firms are at Cambridge, Ely, 

 and Little Shelford. A more famous industry bom of the soil has been 

 brewing. Cambridgeshire barley was at hand, and it seems as if malt, beer, 

 and ale were among the commodities for which the County was most 

 famous throughout the middle ages into modern times. 



Sugar manufacture is a more recent, but a more important industry. The 

 encouragement of the sugar-beet industry by government aid in post-war 

 years had important consequences for the County. The acreage under 

 ' W. Camden, Britannia (1637 edition), p. 491. 



