Summary: Timber trade 2
Key dates:
The speculator, Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, came to Ireland in 1588 and, by 1622, he owned a lot of land including Raleigh’s estate which he had purchased for £1000. He cut down much of the woodland of Cork and Kerry so that he could export staves to France and Spain, build ships for the East India Company and for fuel for the furnaces for his ironworks. In Cork there were soon 700 coopers. His vast forests also allowed him to trade in pipe staves. In 1619 he had 400,000 pipe staves lying in Youghal for export to London.
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