THE STORY SO FAR...

Records show that the Earnshaw family has been
Connected with the timber trade since 1780

The business today, which was founded in 1860, carries the name of Job Earnshaw, who worked falls of timber in the local area near Wakefield. Soon his brothers joined him in the venture, and a small sawmill was built on the Midgley site, producing parts for horse drawn carts, gates, fence posts, rails and various items used in agriculture.

Initially all the sawing was done by hand, but this was soon brought to an end with the acquisition of a traction engine, which in turn was replaced with a steam engine in 1880. The sawmill became fully electrified in 1939.

By the end of the First World War the company had around 40 employees and supplied a wide range of timber; oak for railway wagons and fencing; ash for handles and cart shafts; elm for wheel hubs; beech for textile rollers. The joiners produced gates and feeders while an on-site blacksmith made all the ironwork in-house.

Until the 1940’s most haulage and extraction was done by horse; at one time the company owned 26 horses – 16 at Midgley and 10 at Wakefield.

Since the Second World War the company has evolved steadily. Premises in Wakefield were sold, a sawmill at Brigg in Lincolnshire was bought. Large areas of woodland have been acquired which the company still works to this day.

With the decline of the regions traditional industries of steel, coal and textiles the company moved towards agricultural products with fencing and gates taking over much of the mills production. With the addition of a pressure treatment tank in the 1970’s much of the production shifted to softwood species.

In the mid 1980’s the company launched its first ‘Fencing Centre’, a major initiative which took Earnshaws into retail operations for the first time. In many ways the company was a pioneer at offering fencing and landscaping products direct to the general public, and though initial demand was steady word soon spread and the company was ideally placed to cater for the upsurge of interest in home and garden fuelled by the makeover programmes of the 1990’s.

In 1996, following the closure of the local coal mine, the company relocated its entire Midgley based operation to the newly vacated 13 acre site. The move allowed for the further modernisation of the sawmill operation, but in particular enabled the further development of the retail and distribution enterprise.

1998 saw the opening of a Fencing Centre on the sawmill site at Brigg, replicating the success of the Centre at Midgley the Brigg site brought the same wide range of fencing and landscaping products to customers from Scunthorpe to Lincoln and across to the East coast.

2007 saw the opening of the third Fencing Centre at the site of the old Wentworth Estate sawmill in the picturesque village of Wentworth near Rotherham. This site has since had a complete refit and has added additional joinery and panel capabilities to the company.

Now we are in our 150th year the company is still owned and managed by descendants of the founders and we still maintain the same service tradition that was so important back in the 1860’s. While the company has adapted and changed over the years we have built on those years of experience to be true experts in our field.