The sweet shop is a replica of the building that still stands at 48 Birmingham Street, Oldbury. The original was built in the 1840s, and the shop fronts were added in the late 1870s. Local trade directories show that in 1908, 48 Birmingham Street was occupied by L. T. Dutton, a pork butcher. For the purposes of display the replica shop at the Museum has been fitted out as a sweet shop.
The setting-up of a sweet-making workshop would have been a simple and inexpensive business. A mixture of sugar and glucose was boiled up in large, round-bottomed copper pans on a confectioner's furnace. The furnace was built of bricks in a very similar way to a traditional wash-boiler. Coke was used as a fuel because it retained the heat. Although small, these furnaces were able to reach the high temperatures required for boiling sugar.
| Reference: | 531 |
| Keywords: | Birmingham Street 1840s Dutton Confectionery Coke Sugar Boiling MCOL BCLM |
| Archive Ref: | Marketing Photograph Collection |
| Updated: | 6/9/2001 11:44:25 |