Robert Boby Ltd of Bury St Edmunds began life as an ironmonger in the 1850s. By the 1870s it had expanded into the manufacture of agricultural implements such as winnowing and grain cleaning machinery, malting and milling equipment and machinery for processing flax.

The building was the biggest factory in Bury St Edmunds, employing nearly 200 men. Boby’s company prospered at a time when Britain was known as “the workshop of the world”. A nineteenth century writer reported that:

“There is no part of England where the implements of agriculture are more perfect than in Suffolk… This is owing in a very great measure to the very excellent manufacturers of agricultural implements who live in the county.”

The building’s design shows an interesting mixture of urban and rural styles. The cast iron window frames on the ground floor are typical of industrial buildings; the white weather boarding and pantiled roof reflect a style popular in the countryside. Perhaps this can be seen as representative of the work that went on inside this building: an industrial, urban process producing rural, agricultural equipment.