A Sussex Trug is a wooden basket mainly used for gardening. It is made from a handle and rim of coppiced sweet chestnut wood which is hand-cleft then shaved using a drawknife. The body of the trug is made of five or seven thin boards of cricket bat willow, also hand-shaved with a drawknife.[1] Most trugs have wooden feet. Rough forms of trugs have been made for hundreds of years, often by farmers for their own use or by woodsman or bodgers. They are probably made in Sussex because of the abundance of chestnut coppice and willows found on the marshes. In the early nineteenth century making Sussex trugs developed into quite an important industry, most of this happening in the village of Herstmonceux where there is still one producer.
Shapes and sizes became standardised, the most well-known shape being the "common or garden" trug ranging in volume from one pint to a bushel. However, there is a diverse range of traditional trugs from garden and oval trugs to the more specialised "large log" and "walking stick" trugs[2]. Sussex trugs were shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851 where they were admired by Queen Victoria who purchased several for members of the Royal family. Since then they have always been sought after as the quintessential garden basket. They are renowned for their strength and durability.