Green Wood Worker

The item below was taken from the Kew Gardens website and sets out the role of the traditional woodsman

Traditional Woodland Skills


	Hurdle making (© University of Reading Rural History Centre)

Historically, people relied on woodlands to provide many of the items that they used in their homes and at work, ranging from baskets, furniture and fencing to tools and fuel. Consequently, the management of semi-natural woodlands was economically viable and locally played a central role in the culture and life of the High Weald of Sussex where Wakehurst Place is located. Since the early years of this century, the market for native woodland products, such as charcoal, hazel hurdles, and hedging stakes, has decreased in favour of modern synthetic materials and cheap imports. As a result, many traditional skills have been lost and woodlands neglected. This, in turn, has led to a decline in many plant and animal species that rely upon the diverse habitats created during the woodland management cycle for their survival.

With today's concern for the long-term management of the earth’s finite resources, there has been a resurgence of interest in traditional management which could help make woodlands and associated crafts profitable once more. To maintain this revival, it is essential that the woodland resources are supported by a skilled labour force who can earn a living from the products they manufacture. Purchasing a product from sustainable managed British woodlands makes a personal contribution to the economic viability of traditional skills which will support the conservation of these habitats and their diverse wildlife.

At Wakehurst Place, we are managing our woodlands to maximise their economic value and to conserve their rich biological heritage. By staging events which focus on traditional skills, we aim to raise awareness of woodland management and the conservation of British wildlife. Our diverse educational programme endeavours to provide a practical link between the traditional skills and reasons for woodland management.

Traditional woodland management - coppicing

Skilled craftsmen made many objects from wood that had been coppiced. This ancient practice involves cutting trees and shrubs to ground level and regularly harvesting the shoots which regrow from dormant buds in the stumps and roots. Traditionally, coppice was cut on a regular cycle depending on the species and the product required. Hazel (Corylus avellana), for example, was typically coppiced every 7-10 years to produce pea-sticks, thatching spars, hurdles and fuel. Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) was usually cut at 15 years for fencing, whilst oak (Quercus robur) was left from 25-35 years for firewood and charcoal production. A limited number of trees, known as standards, were often retained for 80-100 years to produce larger timber. Among the most commonly coppiced of the British native broad-leaved trees and shrubs are alder (Alnus glutinosa), beech (Fagus sylvatica), willow (Salix spp.), wych elm (Ulmus glabra), lime (Tilia spp.) and ash (Fraxinus excelsior).

The life of a woodsman

Although the life of a woodsman is romanticised today, the reality was very different. In the winter months, skilled woodsmen worked tirelessly cutting the coppice to produce sufficient material to last the whole year. They often worked away from home for long periods, living in crudely constructed huts or 'hovels' near their workplace. Employed by large estates who managed their own woodlands, they began learning their trade at the early ages of nine or ten and served long apprenticeships. The more skilled craftsmen were self employed, selling their products through local markets or direct to the customer. They laboured long hours for little financial reward and, only occasionally working in teams, led a solitary existence.

Woodland tools

Local blacksmiths designed most tools specially to meet demand and the woodsman's specifications. This resulted in many regional variations which differed in size, weight and pattern. Many tools had a unique role, linked to specific skills - for example, the twybil, a mortising knife, used in the preparation of gate hurdles and the stock knife used to fashion tent pegs.

Most craftsmen, however, only owned a small collection of essential tools which included an axe, side axe, froe and beetle maul, billhook and draw-knife or draw-shave. These basic tools, used in conjunction with a number of devices constructed in the woodlands for gripping, supporting and levering wood, enabled the craftsman to carry out most tasks.

Craftsmen and their products

Before the introduction of fossil fuels, plastics and imported alternatives, the products made by skilled craftsmen from carefully managed woodlands played an essential role in the life of many communities.

Besom Brooms

Although besom brooms were made throughout the country, some of the best were produced by the broomsquires of the Sussex and Surrey heaths. Traditionally cut during the winter months, the heather or birch twigs forming the broomhead were bound together with clefts of ash, oak, hazel or bramble. The handle or ‘tail’, formed from an ash, lime or hazel pole smoothed with a curved draw-shave, was driven into the head and secured with a peg. Besom brooms are still produced commercially for garden and domestic use.

Chairs

The original chair bodgers were highly skilled wood-turners, who produced chair legs and spindles on simple pole lathes for the chair-making industries of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. They worked in crudely constructed brushwood huts within the Chiltern beech woods, but sadly, with the introduction of mechanisation, the traditional chair-making industry steadily declined until the 1950s when the last of the Chiltern bodgers retired. However, recently a new generation of bodgers has staged a revival, making complete chairs from a variety of woods.

Charcoal

Charcoal was traditionally produced during the summer months in coppiced woodlands. The method of charcoal burning, which involves heating wood without enough air for complete combustion, required careful attention from the woodsmen. So, during the summer burning season, they lived ‘on site’ in basic makeshift huts within the woodlands. Until recently, charcoal was produced in earth-covered mounds, but these have been replaced by portable metal kilns which are less labour-intensive.

Gate Hurdles

The gate hurdle, similar in appearance to a small field-gate, was a common form of portable fencing primarily used in sheep farming. Constructed in poles of cleft oak, ash, willow or chestnut, the crossbars were attached to the uprights using mortise joints cut using the hammer-shaped twybil. Although the same basic design was followed by all craftsmen, there were regional variations including the chestnut hurdles of Kent noted for their strength and durability.

Hazel Hurdles

The hazel hurdle-makers, who worked within the coppice woodlands, were arguably the most skilled of all craftsmen. In order to produce a strong and durable fencing panel from young hazel shoots, they mastered a number of skills including cutting, trimming, riving and weaving. The woven hurdles, designed to be both light and portable, were traditionally used for sheep-folding but more recently have become a popular form of garden screening. Dating back as far as the Neolithic period over 5,000 years ago, when woven hurdles and bundles of brushwood formed primitive trackways, hurdle-making is one of the oldest woodland crafts.

Hay Rakes

Hay rakes were produced by craftsmen throughout the country to meet the annual demand of the farmer. Most rakes were constructed from ash wood which is naturally strong, light and readily absorbs sudden strains and stresses. Traditional hand-made rakes are still widely used by many garden contractors, sports clubs and local authorities.

Sussex Trugs

Hurstmonceux in East Sussex was the birth-place of trug-making, which is now practiced throughout the country. The word trug may be derived from the Anglo-Saxon name for a boat (troog). The vessel-shaped trug, made with a steamed ash or chestnut frame and cleft willow, is strong and durable but light to carry and is commonly used in homes and gardens.

Tent Pegs

Many different craftsmen, including the Chiltern bodgers, made tent pegs. The pegs, cleft from ash or beech, were shaped with a draw knife or a device resembling a guillotine called a stock knife. A skilled peg-maker could fashion a peg with just eighteen cuts of the stock knife. During the last war, over fifty million tent pegs were produced to secure the tents that billeted the allied troops. Their strength and ability to grip the ground give them advantages over metal pegs that guarantees their place in the modern market.

Willow Baskets

There is a long tradition of basket-weaving in Britain, which has played an important role in the economic success of many communities. However, the craft of basketry was largely dependent on the willow-growing industries centred around the wetlands of the Somerset levels and the fertile soils of the Severn and Thames valleys. Although recently the craft has declined on a commercial basis, it is still practiced by many craftspeople who follow traditional patterns which have remained unchanged for centuries.

Additional sources of information

Edlin, H. L., 1949. Woodland Crafts in Britain. David and Charles
Tabor, R., 1994. Traditional Woodland Crafts. B.T. Batsford Ltd
Abbott, M., 1991. Green Woodwork. Guild of Master Craftsmen Publications Ltd

Colin featured on the front page of the Wheelbarrow Magazine, May issue. This publication is the in house magazine for the Amberley Museum and is distributed to all volunteers, supporters and staff at the museum also available to the public when visiting. Page 14 of the publication has photos and a brief write up about the green wood worker group, glade area and Hovel --- see below for a clearer copy of the write up.

From the Magazine above

HELLO FROM THE BODGERS

(Colin Wells introduces readers to the newest addition at Amberley)

Colin Wells started the green wood worker group, at Amberley Museum, in late 2004. Since then most of the Polelathe demostration has been in the area adjacent to the ‘Sussex Wood Turners’. However during the winter of 2005/6 Colin and his associate Mike Gordon. Both national members of the ‘Association of Pole lathe Turners and green wood workers’ (APT). Have been very busy transforming the ‘Glade’ within the Amberley Museum nature trail into a centre for old crafts, primarily Pole Lathe turning.

All the resources for this project have been extracted from the Westdene woods near Chichester (many thanks to Richard Ede).

It is hoped that the Glade will become a focal point for old crafts over the ensuing years and will promote their continued existence, and thereby educate visitors on the need for sustainable woodlands and the protection of the environment. Crafts such as Pole lathe turning, hurdle making, besom broom making (see Arthur on site for more information), rake making and much more.

Also courses in pole lathe turning will be offered and it is hoped that through this the group will grow in number and eventually it will be possible to have someone in attendance when ever the Museum is open to the public.


The Presenter Roland	Roland in casual mode

Using Beetle & wedge for log splitting	Using the Saw-Dog

Using the shaving horse	Turning a billet

Putting the legs into the stool	The finished article 'A Stool'
...	...

Billet preparation area	Director, Mike, Roland, Colin, Cameraman, Soundman



Colin at work	Mike at work

Other shots	from the day

out take or set up....???	Mike at rest

Time for a brew	Colin 'The overseer' (no way)