Name/TitleCorn Merchant's Desk

About this objectUsed at the Ipswich Corn Exchange, by Woods, Sadd and Moore & Co., in the 19th and 20 centuries. The firm is listed in Directories of 1916 and 1938.

Research by Richard Hall, Volunteer:

Have you ever wondered how farmers used to sell their crops of wheat and barley? Millers and Maltsters used ‘Agents’ (no not the James Bond variety!), often knowledgeable employees, to buy grain at a ‘Corn Exchange’ (or open marketplace) for them to turn into flour for bread and baking or for malt for brewing. Rather than having a free for all, the farmer was able to go from one company to another in order to negotiate the best price for the crop.

Our wooden Corn Merchants Desks would be set up at a weekly market, held in a local Corn Exchange. From here the miller or maltster’s agent would negotiate the purchase of a crop with each farmer who visited his desk. There are two such desks in our collection, both used by different millers and in different corn exchanges.

This desk was owned by Woods, Sadd and Moore & Company of Norwich. It was used in the Ipswich Corn Exchange. There are two small drawers on the top and a larger drawer below. The desk has a metal plate on the front depicting the companies name and what it is looking to trade (Barley, Seeds and Wool). The desk has brass handles which are both practical and ornamental, perhaps suggestive of the companies standing in the market.

In the 18th Century Corn Exchanges were held in an open market place but controlled by the local town or borough authorities, very much as open markets are today. Their popularity grew as demand for corn and wool increased and by the mid-18th Century richer boroughs considered erecting special ‘Corn Exchanges’ to allow trading to continue in all weathers. Also allowing the borough to charge a larger rent for each agent. Corn Exchanges’ were not limited specifically to trading in grains. The Bristol Corn Exchange, built in 1743, was also used to trade other produce, when grain was not being traded2.

Several other towns and cities took the initiative and built their own Corn Exchanges to serve the surrounding area and growth in building accelerated following the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, which brought about a fall in corn prices due to cheap imports of grain from America. East Anglia, as a major agricultural economy, built Corn Exchanges in most market towns. In Essex there were six, Norfolk had eight and in Suffolk there were seven, found in; Beccles (1849), Bury St Edmunds (1862), Ipswich (1812), Hadleigh (1813), Haverhill (1889), Stowmarket (1835) and Sudbury (1841).
As we have already stated Corn Exchanges were not limited to trading grain, many served as community resources, hosting meetings, political meetings and other civic or social events such as concerts and dances. This was important to their survival as farming in the years between 1846 and 1946 was in depression and many people were forced to seek work in towns and cities.

Medium and MaterialsOak
Handles: Brass

Inscription and MarksThere is a metal plate on the front with yellow lettering: ' WOODS, SADD, MOORE & CO. LTD.,/ NORWICH/ BUYERS, Barley, Seeds & Wool (all stations). There is a white, oval metal plate on the front below, marked: '101'.

MeasurementsLength: 1080mm
Width: 11000
Height: 1440mm

Object numberSTMEA:77.A.40.1

Copyright LicenceAttribution - Non-commercial (cc)