Beginning in Fairfield road in 1861, Bryant & May used up to 150 logs each day.

This amounted to approximately 30,000 tons of timber each year. They imported the Poplar tree from Canada and set up a scheme in the UK to cultivate local Poplar. Nothing was wasted with the tree also being sliced as veneer for the matchboxes.

Image reference: Bryant and May’s ‘Brymay’ Special Safety Match (EPH 4207) First World War period box of ‘Brymay’ ‘Special Safety Matches’ (made by Bryant and May) associated with Miss Nora Monckton. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30083742

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Historic location

Collections can be found at both Tower Hamlets archives and Hackney Archives