1768: John Morton in his 1712 work The Natural History of Northamptonshire commented that the recently drained Borough Fen was 'justly accounted one of the richest Parcels of Feeding Land in the Kingdom'. Among the crops grown there were flax and hemp, which, of course, needed people to store it and sell it. One such person was Robert Muggleston, who ran a flax and hemp dressing business in Peterborough. This day's Northamptonshire Mercury carried the following prominent advertisement:

To all Dealers of HEMP and FLAX: ROBERT MUGLISTON (sic) & Co. beg leave to acquaint them that they have lay'd in a large Assortment of HEMP and FLAX, both of Foreign and Home Growths, and the Produce of Lincolnshire and the Isle of Ely, at their Warehouse in Bridge Street, Peterborough; where all Dealers therein may be served wholesale, upon the lowest Terms.'

An addendum reminded the dealers that the company could acquire tools for dressing hemp and flax of any size to any degree of fineness and 'as such as are allowed by experienced Judges to be as complete-made Tools as any in England, and at moderate Prices'. The business was still flourishing in 1784. (Northamptonshire Mercury quoted in 'A Northampton Miscellany', Northampton Record Society, 1983)

Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.