G H Martin and son of Corsham Wiltshire 1934-2012

G H Martin & Son was established in 1934 with just one Bedford 3 way tipper that was driven and owned by Mr Martin senior. This vehicle was involved in delivering aggregate, concrete blocks and bath stone products from local quarries to sites all across the south west of England.
By 1950 as demand increased and additional lorries were purchased so by 1955 there were 6 lorries in the fleet, still delivering aggregates and concrete blocks and stone.
Specialised vehicles were purchased at this time to include Seddon four wheeled 7t flat beds, these worked exclusively for the admiralty collecting ammunition from Thingley Rail head and distributing to Monkton Farley, Spring Quarry and Copenacre.
In 1969 the fleet had increased to 13 vehicles still all rigid’s, a mixture of flats and tippers.
In 1982 the Falkland conflict started, Martins were heavily involved on a twenty four hour basis moving ammunition and equipment from Royal Naval Stores at Monks Park to Naval ports across the south.
Through changing work and customers needs the artic cranes were disposed of as vehicles moved into transferring stock.
Unfortunately in June 1995 Mr Martin senior passed away.
To accommodate the rising payloads of deliveries in 1978 Mr Martin purchased an artic crane which again joined the other lorries delivering concrete products for Bradleys, which was later to become ECC, Camas and to whom we work for now Aggregate Industries.
Shortly after this time more articulated tractor units and trailers were purchased these were mainly DAF 2300, these were involved with work delivering large blocks of bath stone from quarries in the southwest to include Monks Park, Hartham Park and Portland and delivered to stone masons in and around Wiltshire, the main customer for that work was Bath and Portland, later this company was to change to Hanson Bath and Portland.
In October 2000 the company incorporated and his son David to become managing director and his daughter Barbara to become company secretary.
In January 2000 Barbara’s son in law Michael Fletcher joined the company to bring new ideas and perhaps a younger outlook to the company. Shortly after the company increased its customer flexibility by purchasing curtain sided trailers which made 40% of the fleet.
Then Michael Fletcher ran the company into the ground forcing Mr Martin to shut the company down in early feb 2012!!!

hist_loaded1 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

tipper1 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

jam671j by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

jhr772e by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

inyard by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

hist_seddon by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

640px-Volvo_F88_-OBJ_435W_at_Netley_Marsh_11-_IMG_7475 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr
6238206597_f5096c5e42_m by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

9s6ryo by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

!BpBnmpg!mk~$(KGrHqUH-DMEt9b925hZBLppikvBZw~~_12 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

!BhCG0(QBWk~$(KGrHqYOKj!ErzS2Sgr5BLHY7Q0)4!~~_12 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

!BhCF(rwBmk~$(KGrHqUOKjsErzf!fprwBLHY1OneyQ~~_35 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr
5495724458_dec3789980_m by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

6897149135_e1d1d6039a_o by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

Picture by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

IMG_2749 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr
8030514629_e43d7e8648_m by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

flatbed by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

curtainsider2 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

curtainside%20(2) by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

curtainside3 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

artic4 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

flatbed-stone by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

flatbed5 - Copy by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr
artic3 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

artic2 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

artic by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

!BifZq5gCGk~$(KGrHqYH-EQEsNqo,IdLBLPPbLHsy!~~_12 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

5603119385_028caf1447_b by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

6805652028_467efca0ed_b by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

6951754837_f87c126cac_b by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

boat by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

tipper2 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

flatbed4 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr
I Grow up around this company as my now late father drove for them my hole life and its also where i started my driving carier driving a 4x2 DAF 75 sleeper cabed drop sided tipper that was a streched out unit and had a 300bhp engine in it and could out pull anything i came up aganst. only probolem with it was i used to do nights out in it (witch i didnt mind) but it didnt have a night heater fitted so it got VERY cold at night in the winter lol

Hi theroadrunner

Good to read about the history of Martin’s and some great pics there, thanks for those

When I was on the road, I used to drive past their yard 3 or 4 times a week and would always slow down and have a nosey in It was usually jam packed because, as you know, there wasn’t a lot of room…

Damned shame they’re not running any more - they had a varied and tidy fleet at one time. I didn’t know the son but I spoke to Bow a couple of times, usually at the shows with the old Seddon ( What happened to that, by the way?) - he was a nice old boy

I guess you haven’t got a lot of time for Michael Fletcher then?

Piston broke:
Hi theroadrunner
Damned shame they’re not running any more - they had a varied and tidy fleet at one time. I didn’t know the son but I spoke to Bow a couple of times, usually at the shows with the old Seddon ( What happened to that, by the way?) - he was a nice old boy

I guess you haven’t got a lot of time for Michael Fletcher then?

Hi Piston broke
Glad you liked the post it is a real shame they shut down they were one of the last real old style fleets no name stickers on the door all painted by hand!
they had a good fleet but not as tidy as you might think mind lol
yea Bow was a grate man i remember when i was a small kid he always treated me like a grandson he really was a top man. As far as i no Dave Martin Bows son still has the old seddon he used to do rally’s with it then he got hold of an old Volvo f88. But i think but not shore but think he has now sold the F88 but he wont ever sell the seddon as it was his dads pride and joy i remember old Bow telling me of the story of one of the drivers called Tony Ponting (who ended up as the fitter) being asked by Bow to restore the seddon and Tony said yep ok went around the corner to look at it only to find it sunk in the ground with a tree growing up through the middle of the cab and the bed of the body lol it took him 2 weeks just to cut it free lol
As for Michael Fletcher no cant stand him he married Dave’s sisters daughter got his foot into the office and as soon as he was given part of the company he divorced his wife lined his pockets and left Dave with no choice but to sell off the lorries close down.

theroadrunner:
Hi Piston broke
Glad you liked the post it is a real shame they shut down they were one of the last real old style fleets no name stickers on the door all painted by hand!
they had a good fleet but not as tidy as you might think mind lol
yea Bow was a grate man i remember when i was a small kid he always treated me like a grandson he really was a top man. As far as i no Dave Martin Bows son still has the old seddon he used to do rally’s with it then he got hold of an old Volvo f88. But i think but not shore but think he has now sold the F88 but he wont ever sell the seddon as it was his dads pride and joy i remember old Bow telling me of the story of one of the drivers called Tony Ponting (who ended up as the fitter) being asked by Bow to restore the seddon and Tony said yep ok went around the corner to look at it only to find it sunk in the ground with a tree growing up through the middle of the cab and the bed of the body lol it took him 2 weeks just to cut it free lol
As for Michael Fletcher no cant stand him he married Dave’s sisters daughter got his foot into the office and as soon as he was given part of the company he divorced his wife lined his pockets and left Dave with no choice but to sell off the lorries close down.

I was trying to be polite about the fleet… They did seem to go downhill in the latter years but my earliest memories of them are that they weren’t too bad. I don’t think the colours helped - if they were clean and shiny they looked good but with a bit of mire on them, they definitely looked a little shabby A proper haulage company… I used to work for Andrews at Marshfield so I know what shabby looks like!

Last time I saw the Seddon I think it was accompanied by the F88 in your pic and an earlier one that was still being restored. Perhaps Dave still has one left then?

I do remember the Daf that you drove. Didn’t it have a long-ish wheelbase? Something about it didn’t look quite right from memory…

I would love to see any more pics and I’m sure Bubbs would welcome these on the Scrapbook thread…

Was there a driver by the name of Micheal there in the latter days?.Large chap,had a bit of a stammer and smoked a pipe.
Reason i ask is i heard he went onto Martins a few years back . used to drive for Hughes transport - ex bus driver iirc.

Piston broke:
Last time I saw the Seddon I think it was accompanied by the F88 in your pic and an earlier one that was still being restored. Perhaps Dave still has one left then?

I do remember the Daf that you drove. Didn’t it have a long-ish wheelbase? Something about it didn’t look quite right from memory…

I would love to see any more pics and I’m sure Bubbs would welcome these on the Scrapbook thread…

Not shore about the earlier F88 i new he was thinking of getting one but he never said if he did or not!! i will have to ring him and find out as i left them back in 2006 and moved down to Dorset and have only spoken to Dave on the phone since then but i will ask n let you know!
Yep the 75 i had was a very strang lorry i do admit and yep the wheel base was long as the rear wheels were right on the back of the lorry so there wasent any overhang at the back and no driver could get on with it for that reason well that and the steering lock was really bad on it lol here is the only pic i have of it its from google street view its parked next to a DAF xf that never did nights out and there was me doing monday to saterday out in it all week without even a night heater lol

my old martins DAF 75 4x2 drop sided tipper by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr
if Bubbs would like to add these to his Scrapbook thread he is more then welcome
i do have more pics but got to sort them out before i post them
BUT at the same time i am trying to keep the memory of Martins alive with my Tamiya RC trucks that im going to be showing at the next truckfest south west in the RC compound here are a few pics

P7200043 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

P7200048 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

P9240182 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

P9240184 by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

Suedehead:
Was there a driver by the name of Micheal there in the latter days?.Large chap,had a bit of a stammer and smoked a pipe.
Reason i ask is i heard he went onto Martins a few years back . used to drive for Hughes transport - ex bus driver iirc.

there were a few drivers called Micheal including my father lol
But i do think i know how you mean so if its the same person then yes as the person who im thinking of is also an ex bus driver to and he took over my fathers lorry when my dad had to give up work due to cancer

Hello,heres a few from me,Cheers Bubbs,

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thanks bubbs some grate shots there mate. i used to love that old 3300 but as i remember it didnt have much pulling power in it lol
my dad had a DAF 2800 6x2 from new and that seamed to have a hold lot more power then the old 3300 lol

There was an article on Martins in Heritage Commercial mag a while ago.

Pete.

windrush:
There was an article on Martins in Heritage Commercial mag a while ago.

Pete.

thanks for the info mate i will have to see if i can track down a copy

few more from me

tmr430j by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

8030514629_e43d7e8648_m by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

rigid by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

Hi Roadrunner

Some more great pics there - keep 'em coming, I really enjoy the older stuff

I found one for you. The only one I have of the old Seddon with the man himself at the wheel…taken at Castle Combe Steam Fair some years ago…

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nice pics keep them coming
here is the DAF 2800 ATI 6x2 (reg D445TMW) that my late father drove from new up untill he was given a crapy new M reg (M577GHR seen in one of my above pics with my father at the wheel) Leyland DAF 85 360 6x2

My Late Fathers old DAF 2800 he drove from new by DarrenClark1982, on Flickr

this 2800 i am despratly trying to track down and acorrding to DVLA they said its still here in the UK but NOT taxed so not on the road but they couldent tell me who owns it now or where it is (i guess they cant give that sort of info out on the phone) IF you have seen this old girl in the last few years PLZ PLZ PLZ PM me and let me know where thanks

Nice to see a county haulage fleet up on here. I drove for a smaller company but used to pull out of all the Aggregate Industries sites alongside Martina, in Wiltshire. Very much enjoyed the work too, flat and crane to merchants, yards and sites across the UK. I’ve two friends that drove for Martina and both had windscreen name plates but I can’t quite read those in the photos. Always a chatty group of blokes both old ans young. Often had a bit of banter with them in the various weighbrisge offices.

I also enjoyed reading about Martins. Many years ago i used to deliver to builders merchants all over the country. I remember one was in the village of Corsham and i had to go past Martins yard. I dont remember the name of the merchants but im pretty sure it came up on the right just past Martins. I used to go past there quite regularly. Thats my memory of Martins anyway. Rgds MR.

I live up the road from Martin’s old yard, still see the Seddon occasionally, it was at the Gastard fete last year. The yard was full of ex City Link kit for quite a while after City Link went pop bizarrely.

When MT Barnsley sold up last year one of the Martin’s F88’s was up for sale as one of the lots (auctioneer made clear it was being sold by a friend of the Bransleys as opposed to being owned by them), not sure if it sold though.

Local news has reported that sadly Dave Martin has passed away, aged 73, Funeral is on the 24th

Dave Martin R.I.P

dave martin bought an f88 from povey international transport in the late 90s , anyone know of its where abouts please ?