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Sible Hedingham: The Sugar Loaves

This pub is on Swan Street, to the right, at the junction with Rectory Road to the left. Historically it has always been known as The Sugar Loaves, as evidenced by old Ordnance Survey maps, but by 1953 when this photograph Link was taken by Francis Frith, it had been rusticated into Ye Olde Sugar Loaves. Since then the old timber framing has been exposed again and the name changed back to the original.

At one time Swan Street boasted six public houses but this is the sole survivor.

The 1881 Census lists the following occupants of The Sugar Loaves:

Elizabeth Foreman, head of the household, widow, aged 60, born in Longdon, Worcestershire, a publican
Harriet Ryland, boarder, widow, aged 80, born in Longdon, Worcestershire, formerly a post mistress
Albert Joseph Ryland, grandson of Elizabeth Foreman, aged 6, born in Graham Tower, New Zealand, a scholar
Sarah Ann Smith, unmarried, aged 16, born in Gestingthorp, Essex, a general servant & domestic

In past times sugar did not come in granules supplied in packets or in cubes, but instead in the form of a cone called a sugar loaf. The sugar would be broken off the loaf with a small chopper which looked like a meat cleaver. Metal sugar snippers would then be used to cut the sugar into smaller pieces. These lumps would then be placed in a basin for putting into tea or other hot drinks.