Oatfield was a chocolate and confectionery manufacturer located in

Letterkenny Letterkenny ( ga, Leitir Ceanainn , meaning 'hillside of the O'Cannons'), nicknamed 'the Cathedral Town', is the largest and most populous town in County Donegal, a county in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. Letterkenny lies on the R ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The company was the oldest confectionery manufacturer in Ireland.

History

Early years

The business began as a wholesale and retail outlet on the Port Road in the town. The McKinney family began to make their own sweets, and on 15 August 1927, the first sweets were made on an open coke fire in a shed at the back of the shop. The land on which the factory stood was purchased in November 1929, the first sod was cut in February 1930. Six people were employed at the time. The company at the time was known as Mayfield Confectionery but the name was changed soon afterwards as another company in

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traded by this name. The company name was changed to Oatfield. The land on which the factory was built was known as ''Oatfield''. The ''May'' was dropped and ''Oat'' was substituted and hence the name "Oatfield". The weekly production of confectionery was about 3 tons. Today the company produces approximately 65 tons a week. Sugar was purchased in the 1930s from

Tate & Lyle Tate & Lyle PLC is a British-headquartered, global supplier of food and beverage ingredients to industrial markets. It was originally a sugar refining business, but from the 1970s it began to diversify, eventually divesting its sugar business i ...

. Glucose came from Manchester. They were delivered by ship and rail via

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

to Letterkenny railway station. Later, glucose was shipped from the

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to the Letterkenny Port. In later years, only Irish sugar and Irish glucose were used. Butter had always been Irish Creamery Butter.

Recent years

By 1960 Oatfield decided to stop marketing packed sweets made by Cadbury's, Rowntree, Urney's Chocolates, Bassetts Licorice Allsorts, Jacobs Biscuits, William and Wood, Ritchies Mints and Milroy Confectionery and focus entirely on selling Oatfield sweets. This was a major decision and proved a major success for the company. Exporting began in August 1964. The first sweets were exported to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. At the peak of the company's popularity, the sweets were exported worldwide to countries including the

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and

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Today

Donegal Creameries PLC purchased the company in February 1999 for £783,750. In 2007, Zed Candy—an Irish confectionery company famous for its Chewing Gum—bought the brand from Donegal Creameries. Up until closure, the factory employed approximately 15 people and up to 65 tonnes of sugar and chocolate confectionery were produced each week. The main production lines were Emerald, Toffees, Eclairs, Boiled sweets. The biggest sellers were Emerald, Colleen Assortment and Orange Chocolate. The factory was closed by the current operators, Zed Candy, on 27 May 2012. Production was soon after moved to the UK. In May 2014 the factory was demolished.

Products

*'' Oatfield Emerald'' *''Oatfield Eskimo Mints'' *''Oatfield Clove Drops'' *''Oatfield Eclairs'' *''Oatfield Glucose Barley'' *''Oatfield Glucose Fruits'' *''Oatfield Irish Butter Toffee'' *''Oatfield Liquorice Toffee'' *''Oatfield Mint Humbugs'' *''Oatfield Orange Chocolate''

References

{{Letterkenny Brand name confectionery Food companies of the Republic of Ireland Organisations based in Letterkenny