Commerce and Trade

Like most small towns and villages Coggeshall was self-supporting up until the latter half of the 20th century. This page aims at showing through pictures a few of the businesses, trades and services that were available. All these pictures are from the Museum's collection.


Warren the carriage maker in Bridge Street, c1900. With the advent of the motorcar he adapted to take account of this new technology and started to refurbish car bodywork.		No prizes for hygiene at this Coggeshall butchers shop. It is New Year 1911 and the staff are posed outside the shop of Joyce the butcher on Market End, next to the Post Office.



The saddler and harness maker in East Street about the time of the Great War. A lot of the tools used in this business are now in the Museum's collection		One of Coggeshall's many public houses, the 'Tollhouse', Colchester Road in about 1905. The pub was demolished in the 1970s for a road scheme which never happened!



Mr Baker the blacksmith outside his smithy in Bridge Street in 1895. A house called 'Farriers' now stands on the site.		Workers at Gardner's brewery in Bridge Street about 1912. Flooding was a regular occurrence, but the production of beer carried on.



	The workforce at Hollingtons 'stitching' factory in Church Street about the time of the Great War. The firm was a major employer of women in Coggeshall for many years.

The staff outside the Coggeshall 'Heart in Hand' Co-operative store in Church Street in about 1935. It was one of the first Co-ops in Essex.

The Co-op delivery van in East Street in the late 1930s. The long building in the background is the 'Kinema', always popular entertainment.



The staff outside Croydon Bros general store on Market Hill, date about 1910.		Smith's cycle shop in Stoneham Street in the 1920s.

Steam engine and trailer belonging to Fred Matravers a haulage and general contractor who had a premises and yard in Church Street next to the Baptist Chapel. This picture is from the Coggeshall Almanack of 1912.

Smith's taxis attend a wedding at St Peter's Church in 1927 with drivers in smart white coats. These vehicles obviously attracted a lot of attention from bystanders, as they would today.


Ada Saunders outside her sweet shop in Church Street.	Scott's hardware shop in Church Street in 1895. The 'Padlock' is in the museum.	Harry Bryan Saunders second hand shop in East Street, about 1895


	Swinborne's gelatine and isinglass factory in West Street around the time of World War 2. In the foreground are the growing grounds of the nursery belonging to Humphrey Bros.