Early in the 19th century, people hollowed out pieces of timber to make boat shapes and fixed handles to them. They then used the shape or 'trug' to measure and carry grain out to the fields. The size of each trug was very roughly equivalent to old imperial measures, e.g. bushel, half bushel, pint etc. Because they were made from a single piece of timber they could also measure liquids. As you can imagine they were very heavy!
It was later in the 19th century that the trug as we know it today came about when the solid block of timber was replaced by thin strips of cricket bat willow and nailed to a frame of sweet chestnut, which was commonly grown in the area of Herstmonceux in East Sussex.
Herstmonceux became world famous for trugs and it is said that it is there that they were first used.
In the middle of the 20th century a new type of trug was developed which used Finnish birch plywood; these are the type of trug that we sell on our website. The plywood comes from totally managed forests and is a completely sustainable product. These trugs have brass screws and copper and steel tacks and have been made in Herstmonceux.
