Edmund Cullimore

Timber Merchant and Saw Mill

Edmund Cullimore had embarked on his career as timber merchant at any early age whilst still living outside of Thornbury.  The earliest reference to this is when in 1879 he was named as a trustees in the will of his late brother-in-law, William Weekes in which Edmund was described as a timber merchant from Rockhampton.  The 1881 census shows Edmund was a timber merchant living in Yew Tree Farm, Newton just outside Thornbury.  He was employing 9 men and two boys. 

In 1886 he acquired a large area of land on the edge of the built up area of the town behind St John Street with road access from St John Street and Gloucester Road.  He immediately set about developing parts of the land.  An indenture dated 6th July 1888 shows that Edmund was already using a small part of the property as a timber yard and saw mill and that he had already erected a carpenter's shop, stables and other sheds on the land.  Click here to see a plan of Edmund's property - the saw mill was coloured pink on the plan

The 1889 Thornbury Trade Directory also confirms that the Saw Mill was in operation by this time.  It appears that Edmund was in partnership with William Rummings under the firm of 'Cullimore and Rummings' who operated as farmers, tinplate box manufacturers, and general timber merchants in Rockhampton and Thornbury.  On 28th October 1895, this partnership was dissolved. 

We know from various articles in the Gazette that the Saw Mills had a series of fires.  In one article dated 12^th September 1891 the fire appears to be in a hayrick adjoining the Saw Mill and it is suggested that the hay caught fire by spontaneous combustion.  It is interesting to note that Edmund made an insurance claim off the City of London Fire Office for the expense of extinguishing the fire as at that time the fire service charged for attending a fire.  The insurance company allowed each man who assisted six pence per hour whilst so employed. 

Another more serious fire occurred in October 1899. The fire broke out in the large shed containing valuable machinery.  Although there was a large tank containing 25,000 gallons of water on the site, the fire was so close and burning so fiercely that the men who turned up to help could not dip their buckets into it.  The hose that had been brought to the scene with  a hand engine was not long enough to be used.  Having decided that they could not extinguish the fire, they put their effort into saving as much machinery and timber as possible.  They managed to save some saws, a quantity of boxes, some timber wagons and a chaff cutter, but most of the things were lost. The cause of the fire could not ascertained but it was believed to have started near the chimney stack in the centre of the buildings.  The property and the machinery were insured.  The photo on the right shows Edmund in the centre wearing a bowler hat surrounded by his workforce.

The sawmill specialised in producing wood from English elm and larch.  The timber was used for coffins and pit props.  We understand that they also produced boxes to hold tinplate metal sheets produced by the smelters at Avonmouth and South Wales.  Edmund's grand-daughter, Sally Gordon, remembered that Edmund used to go to South Wales to obtain orders.  He used to cycle over from Thornbury to South Wales, crossing the Seven on the Aust Ferry,

The long wagons that brought the timber were famous in Thornbury.  We have seen a report of damage done to the corner of the Royal George as the wagon swung around precariously.  However the general impression was of the impressive precision of the manoeuvre.  The horses were said to know better than the drivers how this was to be done.  The horses were a great favourite with the young of Thornbury.  They were shoed at Oliver Higgins' forge on Pullins Green.  They were called Prince, Jubilee, Sammy and Captain when Arthur Neal knew them in the early 1940's.  Arthur used to be allowed to feed them and on a Friday a great treat was to be allowed to ride them down the Gloucester Road to their field past the hospital for their weekend rest.

The work was hard both for men and horses.  In the Gazette of 5th July 1913 there is a report of a court case over two separate instances where the driver of a sawmill wagon  and its two big horses was found asleep.  Frederick Hurn and Henry Rugman were the drivers brought to court for not having proper control over their horses and both drivers told the same tale that they had worked without rest for 24 hours.  The Chairman of the Court listened to both defendants and to their employer, Edmund Cullimore (who gave a rather different account from that of his men about what work was expected of them).  In the event the defendants were charged costs with the comment that "the Bench did not think that the defendant had wilfully offended."  The Bench also hoped "that employers would take some steps which would prevent that kind of thing from ever occurring again."

The accident rate at the sawmill was notorious even for a time when industrial injuries were all part of the job.  The comment was often made by people we have spoken to was that you could tell who worked there by counting their fingers.  A typical example is the case of Charles Reeves reported in the Bristol Mercury of 1890.  "On Monday Charles Reeves, 27 years of age living at the High Street Thornbury was working at a sawmill in Thornbury when in "squaring" a piece of timber his hand slipped underneath the saw and four of his fingers were cut off.  He was taken to the Bristol Royal Infirmary where his injuries necessitated his detention."

Other accidents were a great deal more serious. One we have already described is that which happened to William Penduck on May 31st 1917 when he was crushed and killed by the drive on the lathe.  The machinery was impressive.  Henry Smith has told us that when the sawmill began working at night in 1946, the noise was so great the houses in the terrace on Gloucester Road shook with it.

At the far end of the site was the place where the timber was stacked to dry.  The piles of timber seemed to have provided tempting if rather dangerous "dens" for young children to play.  The tar too which was the by-product of the process drained off the wood to form pools which had a fascination for the young.  Jack Pridham described them graphically "two wood tar ponds, inky black with hard, high gloss surfaces covering a deep oily liquid which spawned rivulets of tar which, like volcano lava, flowed menacingly towards the outside world.  The shiny surfaces of these ponds beckoned small boys to come nearer and show disapproval by hurling sticks and stones". 

The sawmills had an unexpected and very real advantage to Thornbury.  The burning of wood waste was used to create electricity using a gas powered engine.  This provided more electricity than was needed at the sawmill.  Francis Grace the son in law of Edmund Cullimore seems to have realised its potential.  Properties neighbouring the saw mill were given the opportunity of receiving electric power from the sawmill. It was later extended to the Cinema, the Workhouse and Morton Mill.

By 1927 Francis Grace had made an official application to supply and distribute electricity to an area in Thornbury "as lies within the circumference of a circle having radius of one and one-third miles and having  its centre at the Sawmills Thornbury."  When we have more time we hope to writing further about Francis Grace and the introduction of electricity to Thornbury.

This page was last updated: 08/03/2010