Wooden Timber Windows, Doors and Stairs. High Quality, Long Life, Bespoke
About Us
In 1884 a 21 year old man named George Barnsdale purchased a plot of land off Donington Market Place, comprising a dwelling house, workshop and storage shed for timber. This was the beginning of a carpentry and wheelwrighting business which maintained steady growth until the First World War.
After the war, George’s sons Walter and Frederick the eldest of nine children, were taken into the business. It was soon apparent that diversification into general building was the way to go, whilst still retaining woodworking as the core activity. Walter took control of the building side and he had acquired a good knowledge of plan drawing during his time as a prisoner of war. Fred was a timber man through and through and so it seemed they were ideally placed together with their father’s experience to take on the runnings of a general building business.
George Barnsdale & Sons prospered and expanded between the wars and was to earn a name for quality, reliability and fairness, indeed auctioneers would want to describe a house they were selling as “Barnsdale built”. The work force reached 100 at one time, and many went from apprenticeship to retirement at the firm.
It was the woodworking side, run by Fred however which was an even greater success story. Turning out high class joinery in hardwood and soft wood, supplied to builders and merchants over a wide area.
George Barnsdale died in 1937 at the age of 74 when the business was at its most successful. The war followed shortly afterwards and the staff was decimated by conscription, but managed to keep going, doing essential repair work and M.O.D. contracts. After the war it was a matter of picking up the pieces and re-forming the company and a quite difficult time ensued.
Fred’s son John joined the company after he had served in the war and continuity of the name was maintained. Housebuilding was carried on more and more by speciality firms and George Barnsdale & Sons saw joinery as the way to proceed, specialising in high quality at the top end of the market.
Fred had died in 1983, Walter in 1989 and John was at retirement age. His daughter, Helen married Stephen Wright in 1975 and Stephen was welcomed into the business in 1985. He has carried out an extensive modernisation programme, new machinery, dust extraction, staff welfare, office organisation and CAD. All of this together with an old established reputation for quality in the joinery field has resulted in much prestigious work and a healthy order book.