The Incredible History of the Garden Shed
Find out the amazing history of the garden shed. The invention that has changed the landscape of gardening!
The garden shed is many things: a place to not only grow plants and flowers, but also to store gardening tools and supplies. The history of the garden shed began over 5,000 years ago in Ancient Greece, and has gone through many changes and innovations.
What is a Garden Shed?
Let’s be clear on what is a shed in this context. Is it the quintessential English wooden structure where you hide your lawn mower, or something grander?
Well firstly, it doesn’t have to be wooden. It can be metal structure, plastic or maybe even some hi-tech material. As long as it can store things.
The world’s biggest shed is The Murtoa Stick Shed in the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia., It is is 870 feet long, 198 feet wide and 62 feet 10 inches high at the ridge, covering an area of 170,000 square feet and with a capacity of 3.4 million bushels or 95,000 tonnes.
A shed is typically a simple, single-story roofed structure in a back garden Or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop. Sheds vary considerably in their size and complexity of construction, from simple open-sided ones designed to cover bicycles or garden items to large wood-framed structures with shingled roofs, windows, and electrical outlets.
Sheds used on farms or in industry can be large structures.
Wikipedia
A History of the Garden Shed
Truth is, it is hard to define when the shed was created. After all, man has needed a storage space for as long as agriculture has existed.
The word was first recorded in English around 1481, as shadde. This originates comes from the Old English word “sceadu”, which means “shade, shadow, darkness”. However this just traces the word in one language and not the actual structure.
As already said, the concept, if not word ‘shed’, has been with us since we left the caves.
Discoveries across the ages
Speaking of caves, those who lived in them created storage sheds out of tiny caverns or alcoves within larger caves. The Anasazi (ancestors of modern-day Pueblo Indians) were a people that lived in the American Southwest from around AD 1 to AD 1300. They lived in both natural cliff-side caves and caverns carved out of soft volcanic rock by humans. They also carved out spaces for storage.
Archeologists discovered a Roman shed brimming with olive, grape, and exotic woods, this structure had been utilized as a storage shed for a workshop that created furniture for affluent clientele. Another clue can be found in a collection of Greek bronze tablets. These tablets, which date between 330 and 280 BC, include specific directions on how to construct on holy territory. Among the permitted constructions was a “shed for straw storage” that had to be at least 18 feet in length and 15 feet in breadth.
Indeed, numerous discoveries have revealed a great deal about a people based on what was discovered in their sheds.
Why are the British obsessed with sheds?
In the UK, sheds hold an almost reverent position in daily life.
For starters, it is said that the UK have the most sheds per capita of any country. Around two-thirds of Britons possess a shed. A poll also revealed that 62% of Brits would avoid purchasing a property if it had a shed or a garden large enough for one, while UK shed rentals on Airbnb are in great demand. Even former Prime Minister David Cameron spent £25,000 for one, which he intended to use to write his memoirs.
A Symbol of Wealth even.
Sheds are not cheap, , particularly well constructed ones which can cope with inclement weather.
The upper classes have always been able to finance additions to their homes that are frequently as sumptuous as the primary residence. And the wealthy have even invested in extravagantly ineffective buildings.
The English folly is one example of this. In the seventeenth century, English aristocracy returning from exotic vacations wanted to reproduce the old ruins and monuments they had seen upon their travels. Thus the folly was conceived.
King Alfred’s Tower is a tower in the English county of Wiltshire. It may serve no use, but it is a striking sight and provides spectacular vistas to those who climb to the summit.
In the US, the grounds of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello have charming little shed-like structures. To Jefferson’s credit, regardless of how extravagantly these great structures were constructed, they did serve a purpose.
Do these truly count as sheds? The jury is out on that one.
What Can I Use a Shed For?
Don’t let history limit you to using your shed for garden equipment.
Nowadays, the variety of uses for sheds (sometimes cheekily called cabins) is mind-boggling. Whether that be a bar, a gaming room, a lounge, a gym, a creative area, an entertainment center, or an office, modern life still embraces the room in the garden.
Here are some other options for your shed
- Brewing your own alcohol
- Better still, turn your shed into a bar.
- Set it up as a movie theater
- Storage of rare items
- Turn it into your invention shack.
- Open the roof and see the stars. Yes, a supernova was discovered from a shed.
Of course there are plenty more wild things you can do with a shed:-
Strange Thing Found in a Shed.
Did you know that an Australian, Malcolm Smith, discovered the lost Three Stooges Film short film called ‘Hello, Pop!’ which was thought to have been lost in a fire in 1967, having been made for MGM in 1933?
We will post an article on strange things found in a shed in future months.
How to build a Garden Shed? What are your options
Now you know the history and have a taste for a new building in your life, how do you go about getting a shed.?
- You may design and construct it entirely from scratch, with all the effort and frustration it implies.
- You may hire an architect to design one and a contractor to construct one at a significant cost.
- You may get a basic shed from a mass market retailer such as Walmart or Costco.
- You can pull over at one of the shed lots you pass on the highway and choose one that fulfills some of your requirements but is of unknown age and quality.
- You may find a recommended specialist shed manufacturer, Check out our list here.