Christchurch Tackle Company

[John Harding]

Good evening everyone,

I was looking through a copy of The Fishing Gazette from December 1948 and noticed an advert' from a company whos name is unfamilliar to me and I was wondering if anyone new what sort of tackle they manufactured or supplied. The company was William Woodfield Ltd of Somerford, Christchurch, Hampshire. There is a photo' of their "modern facory", which looks to be quite a substatial building. They claim to "offer the fisherman a range and quality that is unsurpassed" and they say they were "famous for nealy a hundred years". I was wondering if they became part of another company or maybe just ceased to exist ?

Regards,
John Harding

[Wallys-Cast]

Hi John,
I think Grice and Young reels were made in Christchurch, I wonder if it was originally part of the William Woodfield Ltd company.

Wal.

[John Harding]

That's what crossed my mind as well. I uploaded a scan of the advert which doesn't seemed to have worked so I will try again.

John

[John Harding]

The William Woodfield advert

Sorry I'm having trouble uploading pictures.

[John Harding]

The William Woodfield Advert'

[NiceRoach]

Here's a Woodfield's rod in this thread http://traditionalfisherman.com/viewtopic.php?t=2644 They merged with Grice and Young apparently in 1949 as detailed further in the thread

[John Harding]

Thanks very much for that, I suspected there may be a Grice & Young connection.

Regards,
John

[Harry H]

Going by the phone book Woodfields were trading from Angia works Somerford until 1950 as fishing tackle manufacturer's. They then moved to Mudeford farm and were listed as wholesale suppliers of fishing tackle until 1953
They were also had another address of 251 Holdenhurst rd Boscombe until 1946 which to this day is a shop so might well have been a tackle shop?

[John Harding]

Harry,

Many thanks for the information, just goes to show what you can find out once you start digging.

Regards, John.

[LuckyLuca]

A few pictures of Woodfields fishing tackle found this morning.