HERITAGE group Magic Torch continue their series on local history by looking at sugar refining in Greenock. In this, the first of two articles on the subject, they describe how 14 or 15 large refineries operated in the district in the 1870s.

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 five-storey, red-brick block was built in the 19th century to cater for the growth in sugar refining in the town.

It wasn"t the first refinery to be established in the area, a German named Mark Kuhll having opened the earliest recorded refinery in Sugarhouse Lane as early as 1765.

Yet Greenock was by no means a pioneer in the sugar industry, with other areas having works in operation by the mid-17th century.

Throughout the 1800s, however, Greenock"s strategic location had allowed it to capitalise on the imports of sugar cane arriving into Britain from the West Indies.

By the 1870s, there were 14 or 15 large refineries in operation throughout the area, producing a quarter of a million tons annually and employing thousands. At this time, there was no town in the Empire, outside of London, carrying out the trade so extensively and Greenock rightfully earned the title of Sugaropolis, the sugar capital of Scotland.

Such were the opportunities for work that many immigrants arrived in Greenock in search of employment. The area"s Irish population began to grow but so too did a small German community.

The Germans had been considered as masters of the sugar trade for some time and many came to Britain from rural North Germany in search of work.

Immigrants from Hanover tended to sail into Hull or London before making their way to the centres of the refining industry such as Liverpool and Greenock, often working in the sugar trade until finding something less arduous.

Census data shows that in 1881 there were fewer than two dozen Germans in the Inverclyde area yet, by 1891, this figure had grown to nearer 1,000.

While the hard and often dangerous work was carried out by native Scots, and immigrant Irish and Germans, the refineries tended to be owned by wealthy local merchants.

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, who also donated the fountain that bears his name and still stands in Cathcart Square today, can be considered as one of the most influential figures in the area"s development.

In 1921 some 30 years after Lyle"s death, the Tate and Lyle sugar companies merged in London to become the largest sugar company in the world. Yet Lyle was not the only son of Greenock to make an impact on the sugar industry in other locations.

Indeed, many members of Greenock families, having helped establish the industry in their native town, sought fortune in London, Liverpool and beyond.

The abolition of duties on sugar in 1874 had a great impact on the Greenock refineries seeing an increase in output to meet the growing national consumption. It was at this time that plans were drawn up for a facility that would ensure the town's prolonged success in the industry.

For more information on Inverclyde"s sugar industry log onto the Sugar Refiners and Sugarbakers database at www.mawer.clara.net