A wainwright or cartwright is a trades person skilled in the making and repairing of wagons and

carts A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

. The word ''wainwright'' is the combination of the archaic words "

wain A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are immediately distinguished from ...

" (a large wagon for farm use) and "wright" (a worker or maker), originating from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

''wægnwyrhta''. A master wainwright employs several craftsmen, including

wheelwright A wheelwright is a craftsman who builds or repairs wooden wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the word "wright", (which comes from the Old English word "''wryhta''", meaning a worker or shaper of wood) as in shipwright and ark ...

s, blacksmiths and

painters Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

.Bobbie Kalman, Deanna Brady, ''The Woodworkers'' (2001), p. 26. A carriagemaker specializes in making carriages.

References

Obsolete occupations History of road transport {{job-stub

See also

References