65/324

T. R. Carpenter (Manufacturer)

This peck basket is of the type used for fruit picking and marketing of cherries and soft fruit. One peck is equivalent to quarter of a bushel or two gallons. It is a very local basket, found only in the Sandwich area of East Kent. It is a round basket made of white willow with straight, slewed side – the shape means that it packs and stacks well. It was made by T. R. Carpenter, a basketmaker from Sandwich, Kent.

1 basket: white willow

MERL ‘Stakeholders’ recording form, October 2014 – Object number: 65/324 (Fruit peck) // Name of recorder: Mary Butcher // General construction method: Stake and strand // Overall shape: Round, with narrower collar section after a wide, thick ‘felling’ wale (designed to bend stakes in). // Materials: White willow throughout. // Base: Diameter 10 ½”. Crowned to 1”. 5 sticks, shaved for centre half on underside. Extra slyped stick inserted beside one of 3 ends on both sides – probably to spread the start of the upsett. Base paired, always starting by pricking in two butts. Tips overlap these pricked in butts in places. Final tips tucked in towards centre of base. // Sides: 20 stakes. Upsett started on 2 sides, opposite, a 3-rod wale starting with butts pricked in. Pricked in where extra thick stakes have been inserted into base beside an outer one of a group of 3. It is a pull-down wale with each set of 3 rods being worked out to tips, 5 rows. Siding – a 2- or 3-rod slew with thick tops, 2 sets travelling. 1st starts with a butt for one stroke, then 2 butts until round to start. New set started in the space to the left of the 1st set, 1 butt for 1 stroke, then 2 butts (1 extra added), then 3rd, until catches up with 1st set. 3rd butt added to this 1st set and used round until just catches up again, and so on. Rapped down medium hard. Flows inward from start of upsett. At height of 6” (15.3cm), a 4-rod wale is worked, starting with tips, butt join of thick butts after 1 1/4 rounds, using the ‘in front of 3, behind 1’. Wale to hold the stakes inwards (usually called a felling wale). Rods worked out to tips. Stakes deliberately kinked inwards before butt join. Slewing – 2 and 3 rod, resumes, started in same way as lower down, 3 rows. No waling or pairing. // Border: 4 rod behind 2, finished with 7 crams. Crams go down into felling wale. Kinks in stakes proud of outer border. One false stake put in to the right of the 6th cram from the left – a slyped butt put behind a stake and then taken in front of 4 and behind 1, and is then used again in the border, in front of 4 and behind 1, leaving the thick stake which has only come down behind 2 to be cut off. This happens in three other places, with no obvious reason for their positions, although in one place the rod that would normally be used is damaged. One stake was replaced before the felling wale, by pushing a slyped butt into the centre of a cut (and presumably damaged) stake, thus splitting it. Dorothy Wright’s museum entry calls the felling wale a ‘body’ wale. // Handles: N/A // Lid: N/A // Dimensions: Base diameter 10 ½”. Crown 1”. Total height 9” (22.9cm). IM (Inside Measure) at upsett 10 ½” (26.5cm); at start of felling wale 10 ¼” (26cm); below border 9 ¼” (23.5cm). At border IM 7 ¾” OM (Outside Measure) 10 ¼” (26.1cm). // Anything else to note about this particular basket: – // Anything else to note about this type of basket: –, Also in the Museum's collection is a taped interview with T. R. Carpenter from 23/10/65., MERL 'Catalogue of baskets' form – 'NAME: Basket (PECK) T R Carpenter // Acc. No.: 65/324 // Group: MARKETING. FRUIT. // Neg. no.: 60/6341 // Place of origin: East Kent // Period in use: // DESCRIPTION // Materials: White willow // Shape and construction: Round straight sided in best slewing. After a 2-round body wale at 6” high the top closes in with 3 more rounds of slewing & is finished with a 5-behind-2 border. 4 rounds upsett. // Dimensions: Diam. bottom: 10 1/2” Diam. top: 8”. Height 8” BS. [number of bottom sticks] 5 St. [number of stakes] 20. // Use: Fruit picking & marketing of cherries & soft fruit. The user supplied his own handle of wire or string. It stacks & packs well. // Dialect names: // Distribution: East Kent. Sandwich area. Very local. // Additional notes: see Notebook I. p.66. // also tape interview T. R. Carpenter 23/10/65 // see F.A.6. 1907 Tonbridge'

Sandwich

1925-01-01 - 1974-12-31

Mid-twentieth century

Wright, Dorothy (Recorder)
Butcher, Mary (Recorder)