The Cottage, Sweet Factory, Candle Factory, Garden Walk

History of the Cottage, Garden Walk

1901 The Factory House

Alfred J Banyard, 39, grocer’s carman

Julia H, 40

Wheatley J Steed, boarder, 19, florists apprentice, b Cambs

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3 January 1907 — Pollard’s confectionery factory
One of the most flourishing of Cambridge’s small industries is the confectionery factory of Pollard and Co. in Garden Walk, Victoria Road. From this delightfully-situated establishment some tons of pure boiled sweets are exported to various parts of the country. Not even with the recent extensions to the factory can they cope with the demand. One of their specialities are honey and butter balls and the marzipan for the centre of their satin pralines is made of the finest almonds.

Credit: Mike Petty, 07 01 03 & 03a.

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1911 Sweet Factory Garden Walk

Alfred John Banyard, 49, van driver, b Cambridge

Julia Hannah, 50, b Landbeach

William Lionel Buxton, boarder, 20, scientific instrument maker, b London

Frank Fincher, 12, b Landbeach

Jesse Huckle, 36, boarder, widower, labourer electric lighting, b Stapleford

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1913

W Pollard and Co, Victoria Confectionery Works

The Cottage: Alfred John Banyard, grocer’s carman

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Enid Porter in Cambridgeshire Customs and Folklore, p14, notes:

Pollard and Co, sugar boilers and confectioners, were established in Cambridge from c.1884 until 1934. Their Victoria Confectionery Works were in Garden Walk; in addition, until 1921 they had a sweet shop in Petty Cury and, up to c. 1909, another on Peas Hill.

She wrote of the sympathetic pains that men believed they had as a result of their wife’s pregnancy:

“I always remember the time that I worked at sugar boiling at Pollit’s [Pollard’s] sweet factory; there was a yong man there and he had a terrible time while his wife was carrying. He thought at first it was his teeth so he had them all taken out; but of course it wasn’t and he might have well have kept them in. It lasted all through the nine months and then stopped as soon as the baby came. And you know. he would never have another child after that one.”