From the archive, 1957
How seaside rock
was made
Ever wondered how the letters get all the way through a stick of rock? This British Pathé film from 1957 shows it being made by hand, from a barrel of boiling sugar to seven-inch sticks ready to wrap.
Film: ‘London Rock’ Making Candy Factory (1957), © British Pathé, filmed in Wood Green, London. Plays from YouTube. Watch on YouTube.
What you are
watching
The same craft that gave The Old Rock Factory in Blackpool its name.
- Boiling the sugarCane sugar and glucose are boiled in a big copper to about 260°F, then run off as a thick, glue-like toffee and poured across a long table.
- ColouringColour is worked into part of the batch by hand, ready for the casing and the letters.
- Building the lettersStrips of red and white toffee are shaped into rolls, one letter each. The rock-maker in the film had been doing it for 38 years.
- The big rollThe letter rolls are packed into one huge roll and wrapped, so the words run right through the middle.
- Stretching and rollingThree men lift and hang the roll to stretch it, then roll it thinner and thinner by hand. They have about an hour before the toffee sets too hard.
- CuttingThe long thin lengths are measured and cut with big scissors into seven-inch sticks, ready to wrap.
Want more? Read our short history of Blackpool rock. The rock-making has gone from our building, but the making has not: the units are home to Blackpool makers, sellers and traders.
Make things
in Blackpool
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