Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

seems to die out with them although there were a handful of besom-makers, basketmakers,
lath-makers, lath-rippers, lath-cleavers and lath-renders at work in Period D. 168
Much valuable timber from mature trees was felled and sawn in this zone, some
no doubt by labourers and some by specialist sawyers. The latter are sometimes of lowly
status, but William Berriman, sawyer cum timber-merchant, was an exception. 169
Although sawyers are mentioned in various sources throughout the study period, they are
mentioned in much greater numbers in Period D. Similarly, references to ‘timbermen’,
‘timber-merchants’ and ‘timber-dealers’ increase in the last period, but are not met with
as frequently as references to ‘sawyers’. 170
Turners and coopers also occur in small numbers throughout the two centuries. In
Period A one turner was considered to be a pauper, whereas the varied commercial
activities of John Taylor, made him a wealthy individual. He possessed turning tools and
various types of wood and ‘rushes to bottome chairs’, but also farmed and made malt. 171
Although Edward Hurst had a part in the working of Ham Green Mill in Feckenham, he
was described as a turner in his probate. 172
In the nineteenth century references to
‘turners’ are also joined by a proliferation of ‘chairmakers’.
Some coopers were substantial businessmen, such as John Reeve and Thomas
Huband. 173
The latter was also described as a timberman and timber-merchant later in
168 WoRO, Beoley, Redditch and Feckenham baptisms and 1831, 1841 and 1851 censuses.
169 WaRO, Studley parish register 1699-1705, mentions Thomas Phipps, sawyer and labourer.
WoRO, probate of William Berriman, Tardebigge, timber-merchant, 1728/9. (Earlier described as a
sawyer.) Berriman was literate and made several bequests of £40 or £50.
170
The first reference to ‘timber-merchants’ or ‘timbermen’ was in the 1720s. Trade directories, censuses
and parish registers in Period D also list the odd ‘timber-feller’, ‘timber-valuer’, ‘wood-dealer’, ‘woodranger’
or ‘woodward’.
171 WoRO, Feckenham parish register, 1686, mentions Matthew Hughes, turner, poor. WoRO, probate of
John Taylor, Coughton, turner, 1682, £372-15-8.
172 WoRO, probate of Edward Hurst, Redditch, (Tardebigge), turner, 1740, £50-3-4, lists turner’s timber
worth £12-7-9 and working tools in the shop worth £6-5-0. (Perhaps Hurst used the water-mill to drive
turning equipment as seen in the museum at Park Mill, Gower, West Glamorgan.)
173 WoRO, probate of John Reeve, Studley, cooper, 1694/5, £550-8-3.
283