The present owners Grandfather Eli Wheaton started the business & moved it to its current location around 1920. As a village carpenter & wheelwright Eli turned his hand to the many aspects of woodwork.
He was also the village undertaker.
During those early days the making of wheels, carts, coffins & joinery items were all in his weekly duties.
In 1939 Eli passed away of a heart attack whilst working in the workshop age 73.
His widow Mary asked her Son-in-Law Jack Woodley if he would like to take the business on. Jack too was a wheelwright & joiner by trade &  was also a general builder.

During the early war years Jack was busy producing Bee-hives to aid food production and so help the war effort. Due to the constrictions imposed by the war, the wood used for this had to be locally sourced and he found himself having to cut &  fell large trees. Winch, load & transport large logs. He converted a Model T Ford van into a forest tractor complete with winch & ground anchor to tow the trailer laden with logs back to the yard.

As he had engineering skills & a practical mechanical mind it wasn’t long before he designed & made some of the machinery from which to convert the logs into boards. A large band saw with log carriage, spindle moulder & many other machines & jigs were fashioned when the need arose. A favourite saying of his was that laziness is the mother of invention (although as an 80 hour week was normal he was far from lazy).
Luckily for him Health & Safety wasn’t quite what it is today!

After the war joinery production had a revival due    to war repairs & new building programmes.

In 1949 the famous Cornish Potter Bernhard Leach approached Woodleys to assist in production of a potters wheel designed by his Son David Leach.
Production started in 1950 & the wheels were sold all over the world.

Jack could see the benefits of mechanization & built a new workshop (the present one) & equipped it with the most up to date modern machinery available. Joinery production was increased & became our speciality.
Jacks Son Bryan joined his Farther in 1958 & trained as an apprentice Carpenter & Joiner.
Bryan spent many years on the tools as well as becoming a setter out, foreman, site surveyor, estimator & general manager.

After 20 years of working with him Jack sadly passed away in 1978 & Bryan took over full control of the business.
With a forward thinking business attitude & ever tightening regulations he soon recognized the need for change to ensure the future of the business.
The company went from a Victorian type of management system (shouting) to one with a friendly atmosphere & an open door policy.
Even greater importance was put on staff training, the modernization of equipment & the quality of the work being produced to satisfy the more informed & discerning customers that were now being attracted.

Production was streamlined into one refurbished workshop & over the years the site was updated & a host of general improvements were made – all of which aided production, gave the company a fresher image for the new century.

It was in 1989 during these times of change that David joined the business & also completed his apprentiship in Carpentery & Joinery. After spending a few years on the tools as well as becoming a setter out, site surveyor & estimator he is now the general manager whilst Bryan still plays a very active daily role as the managing director.