Wissington in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

is the site of

British Sugar British Sugar plc is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods and the sole British producer of sugar from sugar beet, as well as medicinal cannabis. British Sugar processes all sugar beet grown in the United Kingdom, and produces about two-t ...

's largest refinery in the UK; it is also the largest in Europe. There has been a sugar factory there since 1925; however none of the rest of the village remains, other than the name. British Sugar has opened the UK's first

bioethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl ...

plant here.

History

When the factory was built in 1925, there was no road access to it. It was located on the south bank of the

River Wissey The River Wissey is a river in Norfolk, eastern England. It rises near Bradenham, and flows for nearly to join the River Great Ouse at Fordham. The lower are navigable. The upper reaches are notable for a number of buildings of historic int ...

, and was also served by the Wissington Light Railway. This railway had been built in 1905, and opened in 1906, for the benefit of local farms. It left the

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

(on the

Great Eastern Main Line The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and t ...

, the Fen Line) to

Stoke Ferry Stoke Ferry is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, 6.5 miles south-east of Downham Market. The village lies on the River Wissey, previously known as the River Stoke. It covers an area of and had a population of 896 in 3 ...

Railway at Abbey Junction, which was located near Station Farm. The line then crossed the river, and continued for some to a terminus at Poppylot. The line was unusual, in that it was not authorised either by an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

or by a

Light Railway Order The Light Railways Act 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c.48) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. History Before the Act each new railway line built in the country required a specific Act of Parliament to be ob ...

. The owners of the factory leased the line, and built another of track, which ensured that sugar beet could reach the plant in sufficient volume to make it efficient.''The River Great Ouse and tributaries'', (2006), Andrew Hunter Blair, Imray Laurie Norie and Wilson, In addition to the railway transport, three tugs, named ''Hilgay'', ''Littleport'' and ''Wissington'', were used to transport goods from the factory to King's Lynn and coal from King's Lynn to the factory in a fleet of 24 steel barges. The Ministry of Agriculture deemed that the factory was of strategic importance during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and took responsibility for it from March 1941. They drafted in Italian prisoners of war to refurbish the railway, and to construct the first roads to the factory. River traffic ceased in 1943. After the war, the Ministry bought the railway in 1947, and ran it themselves. In 1957 they closed the lines to the south of the factory, as most sugar beet was by then delivered to the factory by road. Final closure came in 1982 when improvements to the line (by this point operation was between Denver near Downham Market and Wissington) were required. One of the steam engines is now preserved on the

North Norfolk Railway The North Norfolk Railway (NNR) – also known as the "Poppy Line" – is a heritage steam railway in Norfolk, England, running between the towns of Sheringham and Holt. The North Norfolk Railway is owned and operated as a public limite ...

Hudswell Clarke no.1700 'Wissington', another Hudswell Clarke, no.1539 'Derek Crouch' on the

Nene Valley Railway The Nene Valley Railway (NVR) is a preserved railway in Cambridgeshire, England, running between Peterborough Nene Valley and Yarwell Junction. The line is in length. There are stations at each terminus, and three stops en route: Orton Mere, ...

and the third one, a Manning Wardle no. 1532 'Newcastle', is preserved at

Beamish Museum Beamish Museum is the first regional open-air museum, in England, located at Beamish, near the town of Stanley, in County Durham, England. Beamish pioneered the concept of a living museum. By displaying duplicates or replaceable items, it wa ...

Today

The plant is now supplied by lorry, collecting product from radius. In 2007, Wissington was the site of the UK's first

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...

, the excess heat from which was used to heat on-site greenhouses that produced 70 million tomatoes each year; in 2017, the greenhouses switched to producing cannabis plants for medicine production.

References

External links

British Sugar information on Wissington
{{coord, 52.550251, N, 0.449442, E, region:GB, display=title Former populated places in Norfolk Manufacturing plants in England Economy of Norfolk Biofuel power stations in England Power stations in the East of England Industrial railways in England Sugar refineries