Bavin (wood)
Bavin (wood) was a traditional unit of firewood, a large log.
Description and use
A bavin in the 16thC was a piece of wood standardised as three foot long and two feet round.[1] In Hampshire in the early19thC, its cost was between 6 and 15 shillings per hundred bavins.[2]
Charles Vancouver in 1813 wrote of "Bavins for heating the oven and making a sudden but transient fire".[3] Bavins were used especially by bakers.[4]
Literary associations
Jane Austen in 1814 complained to her sister that “My Mother’s Wood is brought in-but by some mistake, no Bavins. She must therefore buy some”.[5]