Museum

Over 50 years ago, the late John Wilkin began collecting the paraphernalia of preserve making and Essex village life. In quiet corners of the preserve factory he carefully stored away pictures, documents and redundant machines.

With the opening of the museum in a renovated farm building at Tiptree, the late John Wilkin's foresight was at last rewarded. Visitors can see how life used to be and how the art of preserve-making has advanced over the years at Tiptree.

Apple Peeler and Corer
These ingenious machines, operated by turning a handle, were first used in the factory in 1920 for peeling and coring apples. Operators became adept at using this method and could peel 3 to 4 apples a minute.

Kellie Preserve Filler
In 1950 this was the first automatic machine for filling jam jars. Before 1950 filling was done by hand, one person filling approximately 20 jars per minute. This machine filled 60 jars per minute and required one operator to feed the empty jars and another to remove the filled jars. The preserve was cooked in a steam pan, tipped into a smaller carrying pan, cooled in a tank of water and finally tipped into the reservoir of this machine for filling by pump into the jars.

Seed Fiddle
Used on the farm circa 1920 and so called because the machine was driven by drawing backwards and forwards what appeared to be a "bow" - actually a string around a spindle.
Movement of the "bow" revolved a disc onto which the seeds fell from a shoulder bag carried by the operator as he walked over prepared ground. The spinning disc scattered the seeds by centrifugal action.

Mechanical Cherry Stoner
Manufactured in France and purchased in 1947 for stoning cherries with an output in excess of 2000lbs per hour.

The Tiptree museum runs a 12 minute DVD presentation showing the jam making process at Tiptree from farm to finished jar. For visitors who are unable to book a guided tour, this presentation gives a good overview of what makes Tiptree products special.