Woods, Sadd, Moore & Co., Loddon, Bag Seal, Image by StuE, Found by Saxonman.
Found in Suffolk.
WOODS, SADD, MOORE & Co LTD curved around the outer of one side with LODDON straight across the middle. The other side is blank.
"Woods, Sadd, Moore & Co. Limited, agricultural seed merchnts, (seeds specially machine cleaned, wood staplers, maltsters & millers (steam, wind and water), cake merchants; agents for Anglo-Continental manures; & at Lowestoft - also at Loddon Watermill", - From Kelly's Business Directory 1892.
Pictures and information on this company can be found at Norfolk Mills.
"Woods, Sadd, Moore & Co. took over in the late 1880s they installed a coal fired steam engine and a roller mill, although the stones remained for grist grinding. At this time sacks of grain were carried on men's shoulders from the four granaries on the north bank of the river. It was soon realised that this method was far from ideal and so a worm conveyor (auger) was installed, passing under the road to connect the mill with the granaries. This required the construction of an elevator within the mill building that in turn meant raising part of the roof at the north end of the mill. The auger casing is clearly seen in photos of the 1912 floods that washed much of the road away.
In 1900 Woods, Sadd, Moore & Co. were officially reprimanded by the local council for using a steam whistle for summoning or dismissing their workforce. Apparently the council had not given permission, which meant Woods, Sadd, Moore & Co. were in breach of the Factories (Steam Whistles) Act of 1872.
Woods, Sadd, Moore & Co. used wherries for transporting various commodities along the navigable section of the Chet and together with Case & Steward (corn & seed merchants) were responsible for dredging the river to improve navigation to the staithe. Woods, Sadd, Moore & Co. built up a fleet of Norfolk wherries including the Benjamin, Orion, The Lowestoft Trader and Ursa Minor. They also had three iron wherries, the Sirius, Uranus and Vega. Their sails were removed after the first world war and they were then towed by tugs.
Woods, Sadd, Moore & Co. also excavated a turning area for wherries just below the mill. The local children used it as a swimming area and visiting wherries were charged a shilling to turn there. Some would put their mast down to get under the chain barrier and turn for free under the cover of darkness. The last wherry to bring coal to Loddon was the Plane in 1934. It was owned by the Yarmouth Shipping Co. and skippered by George "Nolly" Farrow. Later the Plane's name was changed to the Albion and is still sailing the Broads in 2003.
The wherries brought in a variety of products. Coal came in from Yarmouth and was graded before being sold in Loddon and the surrounding area for 1/- or 1/1d per cwt.
In 1928 the mill was finally converted to electricity and used to husk trefoil, a type of clover that was brought in from Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk. The ground husks were quality inspected under a microscope to ensure the seed had not been chipped, otherwise it would not grow. The seeds were mainly exported to Germany where they were planted to produce animal feed and act as a legume crop to increase the Nitrogen content of the soil. Woods, Sadd, Moore & Co. became the largest red clover (trefoil) dehusking plant in the country.
My grandfather Henry Edwin Sadd was a partner in the firm Woods Sadd Moore & Co Ltd along with his brother Arthur Charles Sadd.
I have a postcard from my G-Father to my mother in which he stated in part
'Also just heard that the B huns have got us (Woods Sadd and Moore). Office gone near Thorpe, Nothing left not even a sheet of paper, also Office on Hill and the Granary at Thorpe but not Thorpe Station.'"
