526 ON THE PRICE OF BUILDING 'MATERIALS. 



of 845-. 4d., spruce at 41. In the next year ordinary deals 

 are at 88j., and no spruce is bought again. Ordinary deals 

 for the remaining years are at io6j. 8d., io6s. 8d., nos. and 

 1 i$s. yd. In 1620 and in 1621 Eton buys deals, stating in the 

 former year that they were 9 feet long, at nld. and is. id. 

 each. They are again bought at Chatham in 1642 and 1648 

 at 50 the thousand ; and in 1645, under the name of spruce 

 deals, at 13.?. ^d. each. In 1647 Eton buys at 152^. the 

 hundred. In 1661 they are bought for the first time in 

 Oxford at iSos. the hundred, in 1666 in Eton at noj., in 

 1680 at I20j., in 1690 at 125^. In 1691 Oxford gives 130^. 

 In 1696 at the same place it is n$s. In 1697 London buys 

 yellow and Christiania deals at ;i2o, and Eton gives the 

 same price in 1699. In 1685 Eton pays 485. for 92 feet of 

 deal timber, about two-thirds the price of oak ; and in 1690, 

 4os. a load. In 1699 Oxford gives id. a foot, or i6s. 8d. the 

 hundred, for white deal. 



Between 1638 and 1702 there are sixteen entries of deals by 

 the piece at Cambridge, Eton, Oxford, and Winchester. The 

 average price is I.T. 3!^., and there is no evidence that the 

 price is rising in the interval. This is significant, as indicating 

 that the foreign trade in timber was regularly on the increase. 

 Considerable purchases of deals and other timber are made 

 between 1697 and 1701 for the work at Westminster Abbey. 

 Thus in 1697 large dram deals are at 6 ics. the hundred, oak 

 at $d. a foot ; in 1698 yellow dram deals are at 5 i$s. the 

 hundred, Swede deals at is. 2d. each. In 1699 dram deals 

 are at is. $d. each, seven foot dram deals at 4 4s. the 

 hundred, yellow at 6 5.$-., yellow balks, 32 feet long, at $s. 6d. 

 each, timber 32 inches in diameter at 2 i6s. the load, and 

 right wainscot at $s. a yard. In 1700 dram deals are at 

 6 los. the hundred, and deals in 1701 at 3 $s. a hundred, 

 oak being at fad. a foot. I have found the term dram deals 

 in no other account. In 1681 a hundred (120) feet of elm 

 board is 15^. 6d., and 93 feet of quarters cost izs. These 

 latter entries are for the city churches where some wainscot is 



