Charles Ransford & Son Ltd

Charles Ransford & Son Ltd Charles Ransford and Son Ltd is a leading British sawmill supplying high quality fencing and other timber products into the UK market.

Ransfords process around 70,000 tonnes of logs each year at our facility in Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire. The main species used are Douglas Fir, Larch and Spruce, sourced from sustainably managed UK forests. We produce 42,000m3 per annum of sawn timber – 70% of which is derived from the more naturally durable ‘redwoods’. We have invested more than £10m in this facility in recent years. State of the

art German sawing equipment, incorporating 3D laser scanning and optimising technology, combine with sophisticated re-sawing, board recovery and product handling systems to make our process one of the most accurate and efficient operations in the UK. No part of the log is wasted. A peeling line strips the bark before the log is milled and this is then processed into a range of horticultural products. Sawdust and woodchips, generated from the milling process, are sold into a variety of markets including equestrian surfaces, animal bedding suppliers, chipboard and MDF manufacturing plants and power generating companies. The service life of sawn timber can be extended by pressure impregnation of preservative. Our pressure timber treatment process uses the latest timber preservatives and the most up to date technology to provide effective protection against rot and decay. Our systems and controls are so good that we are accredited to meet the stringent standards demanded by the Highways Agency. To enhance the look of the product we offer the preservative treatment in the two most popular colours: green and brown. We use our own fleet of vehicles supplemented by professional contract transport when required to make timely deliveries throughout the UK and Ireland.

We’re very grateful to our customer Mulligan Fencingfor these progress pictures of an installation of acoustic fencing p...
03/07/2026

We’re very grateful to our customer Mulligan Fencingfor these progress pictures of an installation of acoustic fencing panels on the Adare by-pass in County Limerick in the Republic of Ireland. We have worked with Mulligans for over 20 years on projects throughout the UK and Eire, and greatly value their professionalism both at project planning stage and during construction.

Adare is an especially beautiful historic town situated on the road between the more populous eastern side of the Republic and the spectacular south-west coast. It is heavily congested during holiday periods so never was a by-pass more needed. However, parts of the new route will pass quite close to some outlying residential areas of the town – hence the need for acoustic panels to mitigate traffic noise for those living nearby.

Alex, Ashley, Sam and Boo were happy to brave the heat this evening to help put up the bunting for the Bishop’s Castle C...
23/06/2026

Alex, Ashley, Sam and Boo were happy to brave the heat this evening to help put up the bunting for the Bishop’s Castle Carnival on Saturday 4th July. This will be the 125th Carnival starting with the procession at 1:00pm and then an afternoon of activities in the playing field with loads to see and do for everyone. Do come and join in the fun!

A new Volvo L120H joins the team today. The latest in a very long line of similar top-of-the-range equipment, it was sup...
10/06/2026

A new Volvo L120H joins the team today. The latest in a very long line of similar top-of-the-range equipment, it was supplied by SMT GB. This one is fitted with a long boom and an 8 cubic metres high tip bucket. The new machine will mostly be working on turning and loading SylvaGrow peat free compost and other landscape and garden products for Melcourt Industries which are made from the bark and sawdust which arise from the sawmilling process.

We hope this picture will help give some sense of scale to our last post. Our colleague Archie at the right of the pictu...
04/06/2026

We hope this picture will help give some sense of scale to our last post. Our colleague Archie at the right of the picture is dwarfed by the aluminium frame and indeed is a heck of a lot smaller than the logs being fed into the mill!

People who know Ransfords know that we don’t waste any part of any log that comes from the forest to our mill. Before it...
04/06/2026

People who know Ransfords know that we don’t waste any part of any log that comes from the forest to our mill. Before it even gets into the mill the log is debarked and the bark and dust created in that process go off to become garden mulch or to be composted down for use in horticulture. This compost is even used by commercial nurseries to grow more trees for planting in commercial forests!

The really clever bit starts once the log comes into the mill. Every log is scanned and from that scan calculations are made which enable us to cut the log in a number of passes so as to yield the maximum amount of usable timber. It’s brilliant technology which plays a big part in making us one of the most efficient sawmills in the UK but, as we all know, technology doesn’t stand still. This aluminium frame has been erected around the existing equipment in preparation for a brand new state of the art log-scanning system and software upgrade which will be installed over the summer holiday. It will vastly improve the performance efficiency and timber yield of the sawmill. We’ll keep you posted on progress.

By the way, when we said we don’t waste anything we meant it: sawdust, wood chips and every last bit of the log are processed and used in a wide variety of applications. The fact is that, if we were pork butchers, we’d try to find a use for the squeal!

18/05/2026

The family of the late Gordon Waugh had planned a gathering at the Crown at Wentnor on Thursday 21st May so his friends and former colleagues could share their memories. Circumstances dictate that we change that so instead we shall gather at Mellington Hall (Mellington Hall Country House Hotel & Holiday Home Park) from 3pm. Please pass this on to anyone you know who is planning to attend.

Every job is easier when you have the right tools so we were happy to help out a local family running a camping and glam...
07/04/2026

Every job is easier when you have the right tools so we were happy to help out a local family running a camping and glamping business position these pods today. It was a glorious day in a wonderful setting: here's hoping for a lovely spring and summer!

Logistics are an important part of every aspect of our business. Put simply, it's important that everything that moves d...
18/03/2026

Logistics are an important part of every aspect of our business. Put simply, it's important that everything that moves does so as efficiently as possible not only to keep costs down but also to reduce our carbon footprint. This picture illustrates one part of this approach We are tipping newly delivered logs with the low emissions, energy-efficient yard shunter which means we can keep the big delivery wagons on the move doing what they do best. So, wagons come into the yard with round bits of wood straight from the forest, swap trailers and head off with trailer loads of square bits of wood for our customers throughout the UK. Worth saying too that we almost always run with full loads to make the best use of the energy used in transport, something that's especially important with fuel prices going the way they are right now.

With heating oil prices going through the roof these local residents have wisely decided to top up on our kiln dried log...
17/03/2026

With heating oil prices going through the roof these local residents have wisely decided to top up on our kiln dried logs to help see them through the rest of winter. Compared with the price of heating oil logs are great value. It's also great to see our new delivery trailer in action! If you need a top up of winter warmth talk to our team on 01588 630 916 or email [email protected]

Hats off to PAUL J YATES Photography! It was he who took the fabulous shot of our mill we posted the other day. Paul too...
12/03/2026

Hats off to PAUL J YATES Photography! It was he who took the fabulous shot of our mill we posted the other day. Paul took the picture with his DJI AIR 3S Drone. Talk about creative flair: marvellous!

Address

Love Lane Industrial Estate
Bishops Castle
SY95DW

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8:30am - 5pm
Friday 8:30am - 5pm

Telephone

01588 638331

Website

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