| East-Anglian Waggon of 1850
The actual vehicle was built at Maplestead in North Essex around 1850. A Mr. John Anstee found it in a farmyard in 1952, when it was in a very bad state. He purchased it from the farmer, a Mr. Beehag for £1. Anstee spent considerable time and money on restoration, with great care being taken to keep to the original construction. John Thompson produced a set of plans in 1975 when he measured it up at the Museum of English Rural life.
This massive and stately waggon was amongst one of the largest and heaviest ever built in England. A man of 6ft. 4in. would have had to stand on tip-toe to look over the side at its lowest point and the rear wheels were around 5½ft. in diameter.
The three pictures here show close up details of a 1/8th scale model and you can see here how a wagon wheel was constructed. All parts are scratch-built and the timber used is lime, spruce and apple.
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