Darby’s began making machinery in 1862 and moved to Stilemans in Wickford. It opened a carpentry shop which made wagons, and a wheelwright’s made the wagon wheels. They made farming tools and machinery and also had a tractor shop. The most famous of their inventions was the Darby Digger. The work force made and repaired much of the machinery in the shop but some of the workers would go out on their motorbikes to assess and repair breakages and problems on local farms. Just over 100 years later in 1966 a massive fire took hold in the thatched cottage roof which was the beginning of the end of Darby’s.
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I remember Darbys. It always had an agricultural piece or two outside, which would be in front of the cricket field. It was on the main Runwell Road so was a common courting spot.
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