Could you introduce yourself and tell us what a Wheelwright does day-to-day? For those unfamiliar, what goes into making or restoring a traditional wooden wheel?
My Name is Sam Rowland, I am a Wheelwright in a family business in Devon. I am 26 and have just qualified as a journeyman after a 3 year apprenticeship and some work time. A traditional Wheelwright makes or repairs any kind of wooden wheel and produces the vehicles that use them. This could be a wheelbarrow or a state coach.
The traditional wheel has a wooden hub, with spokes driven in to it, then an outside ring of timber, called felloes, which is all bound together with a heat shrunk steel tyre. A day could be any number of processes from making the hubs, spokes or felloes, to assembling the wheel to lighting a fire to bond the wheel.
How did you first get into wheelwrighting, and what drew you to such a rare and traditional craft?
I was a mechanic, but I was made redundant during covid. My Girlfriend's Dad, now my wife, is a Master Wheelwright and owns his own firm, with a family history back to 1331 and he offered me the chance to give it a go. I had never touched wood in any meaningful sense before but the challenge of something new caught me.
Wheelwrighting is a highly skilled trade with a long history — how did you learn the craft, and what were some of the biggest challenges early on?
I was taught in an apprenticeship, at Mike Rowland and Son. It was a 3 year apprenticeship, but I also had to run a joinery apprenticeship alongside. The challenges were massive! I didn’t even do woodwork at school, and hadn’t had any experience with wood. I had to learn right from the beginning.
A traditional wooden wheel is made from several different timbers and components. Could you talk us through the materials you use and why they are chosen?
A traditional wheel is made from an elm hub, oak spokes and ash felloes. The timbers, if air dried have specific qualities. The elm is a tenuous split resistant material, oak has lateral strength and the ash has some give or flex for the outer rim. We produce so many wheels, approx. 300 a year that the traditional elm was problematic to get so we had to start looking at alternatives.
Wheelwrighting nearly disappeared in the modern era — why do you think it’s important to preserve these skills, and are you seeing renewed interest in them today?
For me, Wheelwrighting isn’t just a heritage craft — it’s part of who I am and part of the community I belong to. When you work with these skills every day, you realise how much knowledge is tied up in the hands of the people who still practise them. It’s not something you can learn from a book alone. You feel it in the timber, in the way a spoke seats, in the sound a wheel makes when it’s right.
I’ve seen first-hand how quickly these skills can disappear if they’re not actively used and passed on. Every time I build or repair a wheel, I’m not just doing a job — I’m keeping a line of knowledge alive that stretches back hundreds of years. It’s a responsibility, but it’s also a privilege.
There is a renewed interest in the craft, but we have to be careful. Wheels are objects that involve the safety of people riding in vehicles, and they have to be right. And we have to be mindful that we don’t flood the craft with apprentices that would see a skills dilution. The current level is just about right
You’ve worked on a wide range of projects, from historic vehicles to restorations — is there one job or piece of work you’re particularly proud of, and why?
Me and Greg were tasked with restoring the state funeral carriage wheels before HM state funeral. The enormity of the job made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. We played a part in history which can never change.
Do you have a favourite tool or piece of equipment in the workshop — something you rely on every day?
My old spokeshave has to be one of my favourites. This is because they are all about touch and feel and you have to make something directly with your hands.
What does the future look like for Wheelwrighting? Is there a pathway for new people to get involved, and what advice would you give someone interested in learning the trade today?
Wheelwrighting is an endangered trade. There are fewer than 30 in the uk, with many of those at or past retiring age. There are 4 qualified wheelwrights under 30, who you would guess have the craft future in their hands. The best way to find out about apprentice ships is to contact the worshipful company of Wheelwrights who run the apprenticeship scheme. They will know if anyone has an apprentice vacancy and can help.
My advice would be find out as much as you can about it, you have to be passionate and hard working, find a Wheelwright and see if you can visit a shop.
You can find out more at www.wheelwright.org.uk
On Facebook here
And on Sam's Instagram @wheelwright.sam here