There was a time when wooden trugs were used throughout England to carry and measure all sorts of farm produce. They were produced in strict size bands, including small trugs like this size 3, to very large ones. Supposedly the largest were capable of measuring a bushel, but I find this hard to believe as a bushel is the equivalent to 60 lbs of potatoes!

Wooden trugs had fallen out of favour by the end of the Middle Ages and it wasn’t until the Great Exhibition when Thomas Smith of Herstmonceux displayed a selectoin of traditional wooden sussex trugs that their popularity grew again. By all accounts Queen Victoria did her bit too by buying some.

The art of wooden trug making is now continued by a few highly skilled craftsmen in Sussex who continue to use traditional techniques and tools.