Dye's Garage
During the first war the sawmills supplied much timber to the government for use in the war effort. In 1916 Mr C. W. Turgoose joined the firm and from then on they expanded rapidly and soon after the war they had outgrown this site and moved to a much larger one next to the Railway Station. They were proud of the fact that they erected all their own large buildings on the new site to house the most up-to-date woodworking machinery, entirely with their own labour and using the best seasoned English Timber. Shortly after moving to the new site Mr Barton left the firm and Mr Turgoose and Mr Soper became the directors and from then it became the Wayland Timber and Sawmills Co. Ltd. They claimed to be able to supply anything connected with the timber trade and also manufactured fowl houses, garages and sheds of every description. At this time they were by far the biggest employers of labour in the district. In 1929 it was sold to a Yorkshire Firm and a few years after that was closed down. By 1935 the site was taken over by H. Bardwell and Sons, Timber and Builders Merchants. Today George Tufts and Son Ltd., are carrying on in much the same lines, but have greatly extended their range. In the early 1870's Horatio Goodrick had a thriving business on the Thetford Road corner. He was an iron and brass founder and agricultural implement maker and many of the old "built in the wall ovens" that were the only means of baking at this time, were made by Horatio, and later by his son Nehemiah, who finished his working life at James Garner's engineering works in Norwich Road. These premises were converted into a motor garage in the early 1920's for Ridout and Lovewell, later H. J. Ridout, who over the years built up a large business and was the sole agent for Standard Cars and also supplied Triumph and Vauxhall cars and Bedford lorries. After six years on the Dereham Road corner, where Dean's is now, John's Discount Stores moved into John Ridout's former garage which enabled them to spread their wings four-fold. Their short move was undertaken in February 1977. |
