NATIONAL AFFORESTATION 



that date, and no guild or company of such 

 trades is known to have existed. It is there- 

 fore probable, though we have authentic 

 accounts of timber merchants in other parts 

 of the country, that in and around London 

 the dealer in timber was in all probability 

 combined with the carpenter or wood- worker. 

 Eegarding timber-yards, we know that early 

 in the sixteenth century, on the bank of the 

 Thames, a considerable plot of ground was 

 set apart for the storage of such materials as 

 were required for keeping London Bridge in 

 repair, and several pit-saws were at work along 

 the stream. Here, again, it is only reasonable 

 to suppose that the materials used for the re- 

 pairs of a wooden bridge would consist mainly 

 of timber, and the plot of ground be a timber- 

 yard. For the rebuilding of London foreign 

 timber was imported, but the houses, though 

 mainly erected of stone, were often lavishly 

 embellished with oak panelling and carvings 

 from one or other of the adjoining forests. 



Most of the timber in those early days was 

 cut into boards and planks by the pit-saw, 



28 



