Back at the dawn of the Twentieth Century, Major F H Jervoise, a keen forester, was on his honeymoon and collected acorns from a stand of Red Oak (Quercus Rubra) from the Northern-East coast of North America.

In 1905, in return to his Hampshire estate at Herriard Park, the Red Oak acorns were sown in part of Compartment 15 of Hen Wood and then later, in 1912, some of the young trees were transplanted to fill the whole of this forest compartment.  So began the life cycle of our trees.

The Story of Red Oak in England

Red Oak was fairly new to British forestry at the time however Major Jervoise thought it would grow well in Hampshire and he has been proved right.

The Forestry Commission took an early interest and the stand was adopted as a trial plot with measurements taken and growth recorded.  At 72 years old, the stand had a basal area of 14.7 sq.m./ Ha, a Top Height of 24.2m, standing volume of 155 cu.m./Ha and an estimated yield class of 8.

The Estate thought that early thinnings would produce some excellent cleaving material for fencing but soon found that the timber does not have the durability of European White Oak and was therefore unsuitable for outside use – a fact which was later backed up by the Forestry Commission’s report on the timber. From thinnings in 1961 some small sawlogs were harvested, milled and the timber tested.  The subsequent report concluded that the Red Oak timber was even stronger than European Oak, but only suitable for internal use.

Red Oak can be graded to D40 using the BS EN 1912 :2004 which is stiffer thank White Oaks which attains D30.

What is Red Oak Used for Today?

Red Oak today has a command for imported coffin boards and coffin mouldings – sadly in small quantities compared to the veneered chipboard alternative. Red Oak is also peeled and sliced for Veneer use, particularly for veneering internal doors.

Climate change wasn’t on the horizon when Major Jervoise planted his oaks and species diversity wasn’t prominent in forestry thinking.  He was a forester and his objective was to grow good timber. So was he ahead of his time or did he leave his successors with a plantation of fine looking trees which no-one wanted?

Over a century later, Major Jervoise’s great nephew, John Jervoise, is custodian of the Herriard woodlands. This was following in the footsteps of his father, Jack, who was also a forward-thinking forester. Jack loved his woods and made great strides in transforming them from a traditional coppice estate to a more productive, plantation based mixture of broadleaves and conifers, whilst retaining the best areas of coppice. This biodiversity is key to a plant and ecological richness, minimising disease and other environmental problems. Plus, it’s great for carbon capture.

From Honeymoon to Church

Herriard Park, partly modelled by Repton and cherished by generations of the family, is the heart of the Estate and on its edge stands St Mary’s Church. In 2020, the Church saw plans afoot for the renewal of the church floor, so John Jervoise asked his forestry team to look into using Estate timber for the project.

Forestry Consultant, William Hamer, called us in to complete the works as we have a wealth of experience of historic sites from Westminster Abbey to HMS Victory.

After an initial assessment of the current floor and moisture levels, measurements were taken and calculations done to establish the volume of timber required for the new floor. Growing timber is a long term project but producing quality flooring is also not achieved overnight.

The next chapter will be to kiln dry the boards to the correct moisture so that they are happy and stable in their new home. Boards will be cut to three widths to maximise timber usage and will be machined and finished. W L West & Sons will then deliver the flooring to St Mary’s for installation, which is planned for 2022/3.

WL West Timber is a family-owned sawmill & timber merchant in West Sussex with over 155 years’ industry experience. We provide a wide range of air-dried oak and kiln-dried oak timber products and supplies. We also build and install custom projects for our customers.

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