Bavin (wood) was a traditional unit of
firewood
Firewood is any wooden material that is gathered and used for fuel. Generally, firewood is not highly processed and is in some sort of recognizable log or branch form, compared to other forms of wood fuel like pellets or chips. Firewood can ...
, a large log.
Description and use
A bavin in the 16thC was a piece of wood standardised as three foot long and two feet round.
In Hampshire in the early19thC, its cost was between 6 and 15 shillings per hundred bavins.
Charles Vancouver
Charles Vancouver (c. 1756 – c. 1815) was an Anglo-American agricultural writer. He worked with varying success in several countries.
Life
He was baptised in a Dutch family at King's Lynn, Norfolk in November 1756, and was an elder brother of G ...
in 1813 wrote of "Bavins for heating the oven and making a sudden but transient fire".
Bavins were used especially by bakers.
Literary associations
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
in 1814 complained to her sister that “My Mother’s Wood is brought in-but by some mistake, no Bavins. She must therefore buy some”.
See also
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Faggot (unit)
A faggot, in the meaning of "bundle", is an archaic English unit applied to bundles of certain items. Alternate spellings in Early Modern English include ''fagate, faget, fagett, faggott, fagot, fagatt, fagott, ffagott,'' and ''faggat''. A similar ...
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Fascine
A fascine is a rough bundle of brushwood or other material used for strengthening an earthen structure, or making a path across uneven or wet terrain. Typical uses are protecting the banks of streams from erosion, covering marshy ground and so ...
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Withy
A withy or withe (also willow and osier) is a strong flexible willow stem, typically used in thatching, basketmaking, gardening and for constructing woven wattle hurdles.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Definition
Firewood
Fuels
Wood fuel