Gravel digging in Chesterton – Pye’s factory in background – 1932

Pye, Granta Works, Scientific Instruments, Chesterton

History of Granta Works, Chesterton

11 September 1928
The Cambridge works of Messrs W.G. Pye, the well-known scientific instrument and wireless apparatus makers were entered and the workshops and office ransacked. The works consist of several blocks of buildings extending from Cam Road to St Andrew’s church at Old Chesterton. The visitor got into the transformer shop and then into a corridor by means of a hole which had been made in the wall for the fixing of a checking clock. Practically no damage was done and only a small sum of money is missing. It appears he was not a wireless enthusiast because none of the wireless parts were taken

Credit: Mike Petty Archive, Cambridge Chesterton Scrapbook, reference 1928 09 11.

3 May 1932
Cambridge Metal Stamping Company’s plans for the erection of a factory on land off St Andrew’s Road, Chesterton would endanger the beautiful prospect from the river. Alderman Starr said he had viewed the site and been surprised to see a very large building for Pye’s Radio Works had already been erected on the opposite side of the road. Factories were being built without consent of the council but this one could be blocked under the town planning scheme. There were other places it could go.

Credit: Mike Petty Archive, Cambridge Chesterton Scrapbook, reference 32 05 03 & a.

29 April 1949
Cambridge council were told that some 20 years ago Messrs Pye asked for the Church meadow, Chesterton, to build a factory. There was strong opposition in letters to the press. It was one of the beauty spots of “a drab place called Old Chesterton”. It was pointed out then that the firm would spread out and that was what had happened. The land concerned was 2½ acres of valuable front land which the council purchased before the war and which the people of Chesterton were told was going to be a park. If the council did not sell the land Pyes might move their factory. The decision to sell was confirmed.

Credit: Mike Petty Archive, Cambridge Chesterton Scrapbook, reference 1949 04 29.

19 November 1974
Operation Mop-Up got into full swing as flood waters subsided after nearly two hours of rain in 24 hours. In Cambridge the river burst its banks from Lammas Land in Newnham to Pye’s in Chesterton where the playing fields resembled a lake. At St Neots a disabled elderly man and his wife were evacuated as flood water burst into their homes during the worst flooding in that town since 1947. Office workers at the Anglian Water Authority headquarters at Huntingdon spend an anxious afternoon – waiting to see if they would be flooded. Children at Dullingham primary school had to be ferries across floods by a local farmer’s trailer when water blocked the road.

Credit: Mike Petty Archive, Cambridge Chesterton Scrapbook, reference 1974 11 19.

23 January 1985
Pye has been in consumer electrical goods since 1922 when W.G. Pye and Co began selling wireless kits. Now from its headquarters in St Andrew’s Road, Chesterton it sells a wide range of televisions and radios under the Pye brand name though they are not made in Cambridge and have Philips internals. People have a very strong loyalty to the name ‘Pye’, so now they are moving back into areas which have been abandoned to the Japanese. Video cassette recorders have been selling since July and hi-fi music-centres will be launched this year.

Credit: Mike Petty Archive, Cambridge Chesterton Scrapbook, reference 85 01 23a.