The Glebe Sugar Refinery is an important landmark in Inverclyde’s social, industrial & built heritage.
Greenock’s involvement with sugar refining can be traced back over two centuries and has been the backdrop to multiple seismic social changes.
Colonial connections, initially with the slave colonies in the West Indies, ensured a supply of the raw material for processing. Later expansion through the British empire led to the Greenock sugar trade pursuing business in almost all parts of the world.
The refining trade made several dynastic business fortunes and these families came to have an important role in the business and politics of nineteenth century Greenock.
The trade continued, through consolidations and takeovers, until the last cargo of sugar was delivered to Tate & Lyle's Westburn refinery in June 1997.
One of the major players in the industry was Abram Lyle II. Having bought into the Glebe Sugar Company as part of a partnership of local merchants in 1865, Lyle was to go on to make his fame and fortune from sugar. As provost of Greenock, Lyle presided over the development of several important schemes, including the James Watt Dock, the municipal buildings, and the construction of the road to the Lyle Hill.
“ Lyle set up the Glebe Street refinery and even years on I know generations of families who worked in the sugar houses. It's something we're proud of and we should try to remember.
Provost Ciano Rebecchi 2005
1935 Back Court, Market Street
1947 Aerial Photograph of Greenock showing the Glebe Sugar Refinery complex at the bottom left hand side. ©Britain from Above
Sugaropolis
In the late 19th century, Greenock was a thriving industrial port with shipyards, associated manufacturing and sugar refineries drawing people to the town for work. A busy port of the British Empire, it became known as ‘Sugaropolis’, a global hub for sugar refining.
Shipyard and refinery owners in Greenock grew wealthy from their trades, while migrant labourers, displaced by the Highland clearances and Irish famine, joined German sugar-bakers and Italian grocers and confectioners working in the town.
Many ended up living in some of the most deprived housing in the town, which at that time was in the Vennel in the town centre and in the Crawfurd Street area where the Glebe is located.
By the 1870s, those in power wanted to improve Greenock and saw fit to do this by clearing the slums around Crawfurd Street.
Aerial view of the Glebe in context, date unknown. ©1970
Built Heritage
The Glebe Sugar Refinery on the corner of Ker and Crawfurd streets is one of the last remaining monuments to Greenock’s important role in the sugar industry. The building is grade B Listed and deemed to be ‘high risk’ on the buildings at risk register.
Once part of a larger industrial complex, the remaining free-standing 5 storey triangular block is built in solid red brick with contrasting yellow brick dressings. It also features a curve on the west corner which follows the street.
The ground storey is plain by comparison to the upper floors, with large concertina shuttered openings. The upper floor are divided by decorative pilaster strips which frame round-headed fenestration throughout.
The Glebe 2012
Social Change
The Glebe Sugar Refinery was a backdrop to major changes in women’s employment between the pre-First World War years of 1891 to 1914, the First World War years of 1914 to 1918, and the post-First World War years of 1918 to 1921.
The period 1891- 1921 coincided with the development of the woman’s rights movement where women, advancing their interests as citizens, wives, mothers also fought to improve their rights in work.
The second period 1914-1918 represented a shift in the domestic economy that was increasingly committed to catering for the first world war effort. However at the same time a sizeable part of the available male workforce were diverted to combat roles, despite demand for sugar refining output increasing. These pressures brought many women into the Glebe workforce, undertaking all roles in the refining process.
The third period 1918-1921 involved a rapid demobilisation of men from military service and the change from a war to a peace economy but also huge social changes with demands for better housing, better healthcare and better working conditions.
The Greenock Improvement Bill 1919 further cleared the area around the Glebe with many workers moving to the new ‘schemes’ built around the back of Greenock. ‘Homes for Heroes’ that offered more sanitary accommodation, gardens and amenties.
Scotland’s 1919 Housing Act required all local authorities to survey housing needs and build where need was demonstrated. In Greenock, a 1919 survey claimed that new or improved homes were required for some 26,818 inhabitants.
Nowhere was the need for new council housing stronger than in Greenock: a reflection of the burgh’s appalling existing housing conditions and its continued growth – Greenock’s population peaked at 82,123 in 1921 when it was sixth largest town in Scotland.
Greenock’s current population of 44,248 (c.2020) reflects on the post industrial challenges the town has faced as its traditional industries have declined.
Female workers feed the charcoal kilns used for purifying sugar at the Glebe Sugar Refinery Co., Greenock, in Scotland, November 1918. Credit: Mediadrumimages/RoystonLeonard
Glebe Refinery warehouse staff 1925 - ©Mclean Museum & Art Gallery
Women resting on a heap of sugar in the Glebe Sugar Refinery, Greenock, Scotland, November 1918.
CreditL MINISTRY OF INFORMATION FIRST WORLD WAR OFFICIAL COLLECTION
Drone Videos. © FInlay Campbell
WITH THANKS
Our sincere gratitude goes to Historian Andrew Pearson, Social Historian Vincent Gillen, Eric Webster, and The Watt Institution for their invaluable support. Their dedication to preserving and sharing history has made a significant impact, and their contributions have been instrumental in deepening our understanding of the past.
Thank you for your continued commitment and invaluable expertise.