Sales of timber and wood

Sales of trees and timber products in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Introduction

This is a summary of sales of trees from the 18th and 19th Centuries, mainly taken from adverts in Berrow’s Worcester Journal. The majority of these sales are for fully grown trees, used for timber for carpenters, joiners and allied trades. However, a few sales of coppice wood (ie underwood, poles, young trees) have also been included; in reality the annual sales of coppiced oak from the Wyre Forest are likely to have dominated the market. There are also some sales of bark. In some cases, the trees from woods or plantations are being sold. However, these were usually managed as coppices and so many of these trees are probably from hedges. Hedgerow trees, isolated from their neighbours, are usually larger than woodland trees. The sales of elm in particular are most probably from hedges as this tree is rarely found in woods. Leases of local farms often contain clauses to stop the tenant from damaging hedgerow trees or even obliging him to plant new ones. In one case, the Rea Estate in Highley, it is possible to see how croppings took place on a roughly 30 year cycle.

Oak was by far the most common tree. As a timber tree, it was used for general constructional work; its strength is proverbial. By the 18th Century, timber framed houses were rare but agricultural buildings continued to be built this way. Addtionally, large quantities would be need internally for joists, rafters, purlins and the other load-bearing beams in any building. One sale promotes the timber as being suitable for the navy, for ships. Given the availability of so much good-quality oak locally, it is virtually inconceivable that any old ships’ timbers would have been brought several hundred miles inland for houses, in spite of innumerable local legends. Large quantities of oak was also used by wheelwrights, as spokes for wheels and by wainwrights in the frames for cart and coach bodies.

Much ash was also sold. The chief virtue of ash is that it is a very supple wood, able to be bent with ease and also to absorb shocks. Thus where a component was subject to much jolting it was the timber of choice. Felloes (rims) of wheels, shafts and cart/wagon frames were all made out of ash, as were handles for implements ranging from hay rakes on farms to large trip hammers in forges.

Other trees were also sold, but in much smaller quantities. Beech and walnut were much used by cabinet makers. Walnut, with its attractive grain pattern, was used in high-quality items, increasingly popular in the 18th Century. It was also used for gunstocks and so was in great demand in the Napoleonic Wars. Beech could be used form many items inside houses. Elm is very resistant to splitting and so was usually sawn into planks; it was also used for the hubs of wheels. As it is resistant to rotting, it was also used for items such as water pipes and coffins. Poplar and asp are pliable woods and could be split into thin strips for use in basket making. Poplar is also resistant to splintering and so was sometimes sawn into planks for cart bottoms. The fir trees could possibly be Scots Pine or Spruce; these softwoods were sold as yellow and white deal. In addition to normal constructional work, they were used for items such as scaffold or hop poles and masts. Crab apple, a very hard, dense wood, found a niche market for teeth for cogs, when wooden gearing was used in mills.

Summary of sales

1758 Chorley and Northwood: sale of 769 oak and 192 ash for £1455 (Shropshire Archives 1037/21/221).
1763 Rea Farm, Highley: 176 oak timber trees
1765 Highley 40 acres of oak and beech trees
1767 Harcourt: 167 maiden oaks [trees grown from acorns, not coppiced]
1774 Cogs for mill work. To be sold, 400 dozen of exceeding good crab tree cogs and 30 dozen rounds for mills, dry and fit for immediate use.. also to be sold 30 trine of ash felloes for narrow wheels and about 4 dozen axletrees… apply to Mr Crump of Chorley where the whole may be viewed.
1777 Highley Wood Estate, planted with apples and other fruit, oak, ash walnut and other timber trees
1791 Pensax (Worcestershire) 91 ash
1793 Rea Farm, Highley: 51 oak, 38 ash, 21 walnut, 12 elm, 6 beech, 5 poplar, 3 asp
1796 Arley: Bark and poles to be sold by auction at the dwelling place of Mary Crump at the sign of the George, Bewdley, May 14th. Oak bark containing 20 tons of coppice and 15 tons of timber and 30,000 shide [cleaved and pealed poles] of exceeding good oak poles, being 3 miles above Bewdley on the river bank. Apply to Abraham Edmonds, Arley Hall.
1796 Kinlet: To be sold by private contract, May 1796. 600 oak trees, 40 tons of coppice bark, 80 tons of timber bark, close to the turnpike road, 6-7 miles from Bewdley. Apply to Mr Grove, Kinlet.
1798 Kinlet: 130 tons of bark (40 tons from black poles and the remainder except 12 tons from young grove timber). This is on the proprietor’s wharf, 4 miles above Bewdley and can be seen on application to Mr Grove of Kinlet. Also 50 oak trees in Kinlet Park, 100 fir trees and 80 ash.
1801 Highley: 45 ton of oak and 39 ton of elm. The whole of the timber lies near to the bank of the Severn in Highley.
1809 Sidbury: 500 ash and 500 oak.
1812 Sidbury and Stottesdon: 679 oak and 752 ash
1815 Chelmarsh: 419 oak, 95 ash, 10 wych elm. Highley: 106 oak, 53 ash, 15 poplar, 12 beech
1818 Highley, Rea Farm: 210 oak, 151 ash, 19 poplar, 8 elm, 5 walnut, 50 asp poles and 2 acres of underwood.
1820 Kinlet: 130,000 shides of oak poles for sale at Bargate
1823 Highley: 375 oak suitable for the navy.

1882 Chelmarsh: 1323’ of oak at 1/6, 782’ at 1/-, 316’ of elm at 10¼d, 123’ of ash at 1/6, 49’ of poplar at 6d, 232 oak poles at 4d, 18 ton 14cwt 1 qr of bark at £4 per ton (Shropshire Archives 1847