26/01/2009 by IDS
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The Lisnavagh Timber Project grows, sources, conditions and supplies fully traceable home-grown Irish hardwood timber, from sustainable resources, to Ireland's furniture makers and woodworkers.
Clare and Laura first stumbled across the Lisnavagh Timber Project in January 2008. Having invested in a beautiful new wood turning lathe for their studio, they needed some nice wood to turn. After scouring the internet for local suppliers they came across a website supplying fully traceable home-grown Irish hardwoods.
So, having phoned and arranged a visit, they set off on a road trip to Carlow, where they were met by the lovely Dena Nolan who showed them around the various sheds and rooms filled with a huge selection of kiln dried and air dried timber. Most of the timber kept in the sheds, along with the roaming sheep, is from the woods on the Lisnavagh Estate.
Having perused the selection, the two picked out several relatively small pieces, and were handed (along with an invoice) a certificate explaining that the tree the wood came from was a Beech tree that had been blown over in high winds in October 2002 and extracted from the forest in 2004 when it was dry enough. Each piece of wood in the project is numbered and comes with a certificate like this, inclusive of a photograph of the tree itself!
The Beech is not indigenous to Ireland and probably arrived here with the Normans in the 13th Century. The tree rarely lives more than 200 years, growing up to 30/40meters high. The Beech Clare and Laura selected was spalted, patterned with a black colouration in the wood caused by a fungus growing through the grain.
Alongside the timber filled sheds, is a big courtyard, surrounded by lovely old buildings which are being used as studios and offices. This is all part of the Farmyard at Lisnavagh, the 1000 acre estate also includes Lisnavagh House and gardens. The House has been the home to the Bunbury family for ten generations since 1669, when they moved to Carlow from Cheshire.
More recently, it is William Bunbury who innovated the Lisnavagh Timber Project as an alternative income to pure agriculture, to maintain the land and farmhouses. The project has grown from strength to strength since it began in 2001, supplying timber to woodworkers and furniture makers, and also producing kitchen worktops, bookshelves and other joinery items themselves. The latest in these ventures is Bunbury Boards, a range of beautiful chopping boards, each one stamped with a unique log reference relating to a downloadable Tree Report.
