Monument record BSE 274 - Former Flax Factory, Hardwick Industrial Estate, Bury St Edmunds (20th C)

2006: Historic building appraisal of the industrial buildings relating to a former flax factory. The exact date of when the flax factory commenced production is not known, but the period of use was relatively short lived between the years 1919 and 1926. it was built to provide employment for people in the Depression years following WWI. The buildings were later used as the Bury Hand Laundry and during WWII were used by the MoD. In latter years the site has been utilised as an industrial estate. Most of the buildings associated with the factory survive, and photographs from the period of its use give a good indication as to how some were used. It is less simple to discern how the site was used by the laundry and MoD. All buildings consist of fletton brickwork and concrete. One contains piping which may suggest the former presence of a water tank. Also evidence for coal fired boilers (S1).
Seen on the 1926 Ordnance Survey map as 'disused' (S2)

A trial trench evaluation was undertaken over three phases at Hardwick Industrial Estate. Despite the site lying within an area where archaeological remains are likely to occur, little archaeological evidence was revealed. Modern truncation has not affected the far eastern and western sectors of the site. Conversely the southern and northern areas appear to have suffered from modern truncation (S3).