A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



An industry of comparatively small extent, but 

 interesting as being peculiar to Sussex, is the 

 manufacture of TRUGS. The trug, which 

 derives its name from the Anglo-Saxon trog, a 

 tub or boat, is a flattish oblong or elliptical basket 

 made of strips of wood, strengthened with 

 ' braces ' and having a curved handle and, usually, 

 broad feet. The industry has its only seat at 

 Herstmonceux, where the present type of trug 

 was evolved from its rough and cumbersome 

 predecessor by Thomas Smith father of 

 Messrs. George and Thomas Smith, the present 

 chief manufacturers about the end of the 

 eighteenth century. The body of the trug is 

 formed of five or more strips of sallow wood, 

 which is very pliable when moistened ; the 

 widest strip forms the bottom of the basket, the 

 others being fastened symmetrically on either 

 side ; the top band or edge to which the strips 

 are nailed is made of a band of ash, steamed and 

 bent into the required shape, as are also the 

 handles and the strengthening braces. 127 Such 

 trugs, which may vary in length from 8 in. 

 up to 4 ft., the breadth being as a rule about a 

 third of the length, form ideal baskets for garden- 

 ing purposes, being light, strong and capacious, 

 and have therefore found their way not only into 

 such representative agricultural collections as 

 those at the Kew and Royal Dublin Agricultural 

 Museums, but also into the catalogues of most 

 leading providers of garden requisites. Small 

 trugs are also made with elaborate neatness for 

 fancy uses, and some of these, finished with 

 silver nails, were awarded prizes at the Great 

 Exhibition of 1851, the Paris Exhibition of 1855, 

 the Fisheries Exhibition, Edinburgh, 1884, and 

 the International Exhibition, London, 1885. At 

 the former they attracted the attention of Queen 

 Victoria, who ordered a number, her example 

 being followed by members of the Russian imperial 

 family and others. 128 Sussex trugs at present are 

 sent to all parts of the kingdom and to most coun- 

 tries on the continent. Although the Sussex trug 

 in its present form has an antiquity of little 

 more than a century it possesses a pedigree of 

 respectable length. An inventory of the goods 

 of Cornelius Humphrey of Newhaven, taken in 

 1697, mentions 'one dozen of truggs ' in the 

 dairy ; 129 ' four truggs ' are amongst the household 

 goods enumerated in the will of Thomas Fuller 

 of Hellingly in i6n, 129a and the Calendar of 

 Wills at Lewes mentions ' truggers ' or ' trug- 

 makers ' at Rotherfield in 1566, East Grinstead 

 1592, Isfield 1598, Warbleton 1626, and Slaug- 

 ham 1629 and 1639. It would be interesting if 



127 Suss. Industries, 11-17 

 Suss. Anh.CoIl.\\, 194. 



188 Ibid. 1 6. 



9a Lewes Wills, A 13, fol. 148. John Edwardes 

 of Slaugham, trug-maker, in 1629 left to his son 

 James the tools of his trade, namely ' one sledge, two 

 sockett wedges, foure adzes, one axe and one hatchett 

 .and foure shaves' ; ibid. A 20, f. 158. 



we could identify as a follower of this trade the 

 ' factor corbell,' working at Hurstpierpoint in 

 1380 ; 13 but it is perhaps more probable that he 

 was an ordinary basket-maker, a trade which is 

 still well represented in the county, especially 

 round Hailsham, Herstmonceux, Brighton, and 

 Crawley, at which latter place a company called 

 ' The Sussex Basket Industry, Ltd.,' has recently 

 been formed. A special variety of basket which 

 was in use in early times was the ' dorser,' used 

 in East Sussex for carrying fish. In 1598 the 

 earl of Nottingham asked the mayor of Rye to 

 send him ' twoe dorsers of your beste fishe,' 131 

 and in 1685 orders were issued at Hastings for 

 the ' feelers or dosser-makers ' to make their 

 dorsers 12 in. wide in the yoke 'between the 

 bores,' 7 in. deep, and 17 in. ' between bayle and 

 bayle.' 132 Dorser-makers occur at Peasmarsh in 

 1574, Westfield 1582, and in 1611 at Brede, 133 

 at which latter place John Sanders carried on the 

 trade as early as 1450, when he was concerned 

 in Jack Cade's rebellion. 134 



An allied industry is the manufacture of 

 HOOPS for casks, which has long flourished in 

 Sussex. Although references to coopers are of 

 frequent occurrence in early documents, they are 

 too widely scattered over the county to point 

 to any definite seat of the trade. In 1798 

 large numbers of hoops were required for export 

 to the West Indies for binding sugar casks ; 

 these, however, were not bent in Sussex, but 

 were sent up in the form of rods. 



The Hoop Rods are slit and shaved up rough in 

 the woods ; and are sent to London in bundles of 

 sixty each, and about thirteen feet long, to the hoop- 

 benders. 135 



Hoops are of two main varieties ; the ordinary 

 hoops used on casks being known as ' smart 

 hoops,' while the stiff hoops round which 

 these are moulded are called ' truss hoops.' To 

 make a ' truss hoop ' a well-seasoned ash stem is 

 split and steamed in 'a special apparatus, con- 

 sisting of a long closed case of boards, with a 

 boiler underneath,' and is then bent into shape, 

 ' an operation which requires the labour of two 

 strong men.' 136 The manufacture of ' smart 

 hoops ' is naturally a simpler matter : 



When the wood is stacked it has to be soaked for 

 at least 24 hours before use, having been previously 

 split with an axe and shaved. When the boughs are 

 green soaking is unnecessary. Next the split boughs 

 are bent on an instrument called a 'jorer,' and that 

 done, they are formed into rings inside a truss-hoop 

 lying on the floor, and bound together with withes, 

 six in a bundle." 7 



130 Lay Subs. ift 8 -. 



131 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. pt. iv, 1 16. 



133 Ibid. 362. 13S Cal. of Lewes Will,. 



134 Anct. Indictments, K.B. bdle. 122. 



135 Marshall, Rural Economy of the Southern Counties, 



137 Ibid. 136. 



129. 



136 Suss. Industries, 135. 



2 3 6 



