A family business of 3 generations ... Richardson’s Sawmill was started in 1960 by brothers Mervyn and Kenny Richardson who ran a firewood round selling door to door right through to 1969. During this time they gained great knowledge of the timber business and decided to set up their own Sawmill. At first they worked from rented premises at Witton with one band saw, a lorry and a mobile timber crane, their main work was tree felling and sawing the timber into pit props for the coal mining industry. The business grew steadily and in 1973 they moved to their present site on Edingthorpe Heath.
First though they had the massive task of clearing the dense scrub and undergrowth before building their new sawmill sheds and installing their massive saws and equipment. At this time their business was feeling the effect of the miners’ strikes and as the demand for pit props fell off the Richardson brothers had to diversify into other timber products, including fence panels and posts. It was in fact the sturdy construction of their fence panels, all made from quality timber, which earned them a countywide reputation with both trade and private customers and following a further wave of mining strikes they decided to drop pit prop manufacturing altogether and concentrate on fencing & sheds.
In 1986 Kenny’s son Neil joined the partnership, joined shortly after by his now wife Marie and the business kept evolving. In 2018 Neil & Marie’s daughter Penelope joined and then in 2021 their son William, it really is a family affair with Neil’s mother Janice still in the yard everyday.
The quality of their work and competitive pricing has maintained a constant flow of orders even during periods of trade recession and more recently Covid 19. The family are always introducing new ranges and ideas in order to keep ahead, and specialise in English Oak and Douglas Fir.
L – R Penelope, Marie, Neil & William Richardson