Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Snape has had five main industries throughout its history. Under the Romans it was salt production, but in the 19th century it was fertiliser, created from coprolite found locally. The discovery of the commercial viability of this process by a Saxmundham bone merchant, Edward Packard led to what has been dubbed "the Suffolk Gold Rush", and local fortunes were made.Packard established what was to become the fertiliser company Fisons, now part of AstraZeneca. Sugar beet was also an important product; it was first grown commercially in and exported to the [Netherlands from Snape. The Maltings, producing and exporting high-quality malted barley, was a fourth important industry, which bequeathed buildings to the fifth significant industry: tourism.