Hickory hickory and woods that are harder, but the combination of strength, toughness, hardness, and stiffness found in hickory wood is not found in any other commercial wood. It is used for tool handles, bows, wheel spokes, carts, drumsticks, lacrosse stick handles, golf club shafts (sometimes still called "hickory stick", even though made of steel or graphite), the bottom of skis, walking sticks, and for punitive use as a switch (like hazel), and especially as a cane-like hickory stick in schools and use by parents. Paddles are often made from hickory. This property of hickory wood has left a trace in
Staveley Mill Yard was built by the mill owners to regulate the flow of the river for the benefit of mills and other industries downstream. A large water wheel powered the line shafting (some of which can be seen upstairs in Wilf’s Café) and under the balcony can be seen where the water was drawn off above the weir and channelled along the race, through an archway into the building to power the wheel. In 1902 the water-wheel was replaced by a turbine. In the 20th century, The Staveley Wood Turning Co. Ltd. switched much of its production into tool handles and was