The Wheelwright's Shop

First published in 1923, The Wheelwright's Shop is George Sturt's account of the family wheelwright business in Farnham, Surrey, which he took over in 1884. With a history stretching back to 1706, the workshop held generations of practical knowledge about trees, timber, tools and the making of carts and wagons. Sturt shows how the soil of a farm, the gradient of a hill, the strength of a horse and the grain of a tree could all determine how a cart or wagon was made, revealing a knowledge gleaned through close observation and generations of practical work. Written as the role of the wheelwright was coming to an end, overtaken by iron, machinery and modern production, the book is both a celebration of skilled work and a record of a passing world in which craft was intimately connected to landscape, seasons and natural materials. This new edition has an introduction by the sculptor David Nash, for whom The Wheelwright's Shop has been a source of inspiration and lifelong resource about wood, trees and making.

"A great celebration. A wonderful statement about a reality, and an expression of how knowledge can be gathered and gleaned from the raw materials that grow in the woods, hedges and fields." David Nash

George Sturt was born in Farnham, Surrey, in 1863 and educated at Farnham Grammar School, where he later worked briefly as a pupil-teacher. In 1884 he took over the family wheelwright business in East Street, Farnham, a workshop whose records stretched back to 1706. Although he continued to run the business for many years, Sturt's ambition was to write. Under the pseudonym George Bourne he published a series of books about rural life, labour and craft, including The Bettesworth Book, Memoirs of a Surrey Labourer and Change in the Village. His best-known work, The Wheelwright's Shop, appeared in 1923, drawing on his close knowledge of the craftsmen, tools and materials of the family workshop. His final book, A Small Boy in the Sixties, recalled his Victorian childhood in Farnham. Sturt died in 1927 and is buried in Green Lane Cemetery.


David Nash is one of Britain's leading sculptors, known for his work with wood, trees and the natural environment. Based in Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales, since 1967, his practice encompasses sculpture, drawing and land art. His best-known works include Ash Dome, begun in 1977 by planting and training a circle of ash trees, and Wooden Boulder, which followed the journey of a carved oak form through the Welsh landscape. Major exhibitions have been held at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and National Museum Cardiff, and he was elected a Royal Academician in 1999 and awarded an OBE for services to art in 2004.