History of Garden Sheds

The word shed has been in our vocabulary for many centuries it comes from an old English word spelt shadde, shad or shedde. The first documented time the word “shed” was used in English was in 1481 by William Caxton the first English printer who imported books into England. He gave a description in which he said “A yerde in which was a shadde where in were five grete dogges” meaning “A yard in which was a shed where in were five great dogs”. While a garden is often described as a planned space which is usually outside and contains plants, trees, vegetables and flowers. Gardening is a worldwide hobby.

How did the garden shed first come about? We humans are very protective and proud of our possessions. We need storage to put all our possessions in so that is how houses first came about. We were no longer able to store all our tools in the house so we opted for the garden shed as another way to protect and store our possessions. Centuries ago people built homes and sheds from what ever they could find such as stones, mammoth tusks, ice and animal skins. An example of this is early Egyptians who built underground silos lined with reed basketry to store grain. In previous centuries garden sheds have been called potting houses and summerhouses. In the 1920s and 30s nurseries started to advertise to assemble sheds. They were smaller versions of the Victoria Potting shed containing shelves, and made of wooden boards rather than brick and stone.

England especially loves their garden shed apparently 20% of the population owns one. The Garden shed are still loved in today’s society and can bring about many memories of childhood such as tinkering around the garden shed with your Grandparents. In today’s society the garden shed is still used mainly for storage reasons a place for your tools and garden supplies but has also branched out into so much more a greenhouse, a place to keep pets or farm animals, an office at home, an elegant garden room or simply just a place to relax, your very own retreat. The things you can do with your Garden shed are endless.