Trade before 1900

Verwood's strange trades

The occupations of the people of Verwood in the 1898 Directory show what an unusual village it was even at the end of the nineteenth century. Victorian Verwood had two bakers, two public houses, three shops, a bootmaker, two grocers, three blacksmiths, a bricklayer, two coal merchants, a horse dealer and two carpenters and wheelwrights. These trades would be found in every large village, along with Verwood's eleven farmers, one market gardener, a threshing machine hirer and three cow-keepers. What is odd are the sixteen broom-makers, four brickmakers, six potters and six earthenware dealers. These represent the specific woodland and marginal land occupations, and the three hawkers and eight higglers (all travelling salesmen) must have depended on the potters and broom-makers for their goods to sell. Clearly Verwood was very different.