Wood at the heart of Yorkshire family firm's 150 years of business growth

WHEN Job Earnshaw set up his timber yard in 1860, America was about to plunge into a bloody civil war and horsepower was still the most popular means of transport.

One hundred and fifty years later, the firm is still going strong, after weathering umpteen recessions and the decline of the coal industry.

Over the years, it has been run by five generations of the Earnshaw family.

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Earnshaws has helped tennis players to serve up aces and it has also provided wood for exclusive sports cars.

Yesterday, Peter Earnshaw, the company's director, said: "We have always been prepared to look to the future and move with the times. We've not one of those 'here today – gone tomorrow' companies and I think people appreciate that."

The Earnshaw family has been linked with the timber trade since 1780.

The business carries the name of Job Earnshaw, who decided to become his own boss and open a timber yard in Wakefield.

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His brothers joined him in the venture, and a small sawmill was built in Midgley, near Wakefield, producing parts for horse-drawn carts, gates, fence posts, rails and items used in agriculture.

Initially, all the sawing was done by hand. The sawmill didn't become fully electrified until 1939.

By the end of the First World War, the company had about 40 staff and supplied a wide range of timber. There was oak for railway wagons and fencing; ash for handles and cart shafts; elm for wheel hubs and beech for textile rollers.

The joiners produced gates and feeders while an on-site blacksmith made all the ironwork in-house. The wood was also used for tennis rackets and Morgan cars.

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Until the 1940s, most haulage and extraction was done by horse.

Since 1945, the company has grown steadily. It sold its premises in Wakefield and bought a sawmill in Brigg, Lincolnshire. Woodland was also acquired which the company still uses.

In the mid-1980s, the company launched its first fencing centre, which took Earnshaws into retailing.

In 1996, following the closure of the local coal mine, the company moved part of its operation to the newly vacated 13-acre site in Stocksmoor Road, Midgley.

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Three years ago, Earnshaws opened its third fencing centre at the site of the old Wentworth estate sawmill, in the village

of Wentworth, near Rotherham. Today, it employs 60 staff and has a turnover of about 4m.

Although the building trade suffered during the recession, Mr Earnshaw believes the company is well prepared for the challenges ahead.

He said: "We are a one-stop shop for fencing material. We will put most of our efforts into the retail side of the business in the coming years.

"We hope Job Earnshaw & Bros will be around for another 150 years."

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