51/91

This is a canister sheep bell form Ditchling in Sussex. It is made of welded iron and lacquered with brass. The mouth of the bell is almost square. It has a yoke (neck piece) of yew and has lockyers (wedges) of mutton bone to keep the yoke from slipping off the leather straps fixed around the two looped handle. The space between the yoke and the bell seems too small to take a sheep’s head, so the straps were probably considerably longer when the bell was used. Canister bells are the oldest type of sheep bell and are the same width from shoulder to mouth, with a flat crown.

1 canister bell: wood [yew] and metal [iron and brass]; good condition

Citation in publication [H. J. Massingham, 'Country Relics' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939)] – 'I have two "canisters", distinguished from the "clucket" or later type by being one of the same width from shoulder to mouth. The larger one from Ditchling, of welded iron lacquered with brass, should have a neck-piece or "yoke" of yew-wood and wedges or "lockyers" of mutton-bone to keep the yoke from slipping off the leather straps looped around the handle. All are present, but as the space between the yoke and the handle is too small to take a sheep's head, they must have been imitatively added later.' (p.131), MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, October 1989] – 'ACC. NO.: 51/91 // NAME: SHEEP BELL // NEG NO.: 35/81 // STORAGE: P. Ex. [Permanent Exhibition] Sheep.'

Wood, yew, Metal, iron