51/503

Brick ovens for baking bread were a common feature in old farmhouses and better class cottages. The mouth of the oven was closed with a separate door made of wood or, later, sheet iron, and often with two handles which enabled it to be lifted completely away. This is a wooden oven door, cracked on the back from the heat, with one long wooden handle. Nothing is known of its origins.

1 oven door: wood; fair condition: cracked on the back as a result of exposure to heat

MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 'This oven door is made of wood which is cracked on the back as a result of exposure to heat. It measures 21 inches by 18 inches and is 2.25 inches thick. It has one long handle on the right side. // See 51/502 L', MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 51/502 – 'Brick ovens for baking bread were a common feature in old farmhouses and better class cottages. They showed on the exterior of the building as a semi-circular projection with a rounded top and its own roof. Inside the kitchen, the top of the oven was stepped back in brick work, and the inside of the oven was arched with a flat floor. The mouth of the oven was closed with a separate door of wood or sheet iron with two handles so that it could be moved right away. Wooden doors are earlier in date than iron ones.', Lavinia Smith No. 167, Lavinia Smith Catalogue (D60/28) - 'A list of the contents of the East Hendred museum. July 5 1940 // Heating and Cooking // 165-167. Three wooden doors for these backovens used before iron doors were introduced. The oldest one came from a cottage which an architect said was 750 years old. One was made to slip to and fro. It has a hard deposit of soot on it.' (The other two are likely to be 51/502 and 51/501), Lavinia Smith Catalogue (D60/28) - 'A list of the contents of the East Hendred museum. July 5 1940 // The Fire and Hearth // 11. wooden door. Frank Stibbs. This door was made to slide to and fro apparently into the chimney as a great part of it was encrusted with hardened soot // 12. wooden door. Frank Stibbs.' (Either of the two entries in Smith's catalogue could be in reference to this particular oven door - the other is likely to be 51/502)(The two oven doors are recorded twice in Lavinia Smith's catalogue on two separate lists - perhaps one was compiled at a later date?), Heritage of the Hendreds Exhibition 1969 - 'Catalogue of Exhibits // Number 62 // Oven Door // Lent by Museum of English Rural Life' (The catalogue description could also refer to 51/811, 51/501 and 51/502)

Rippon, Miss Dorothy May Lyddon (Agent)
Stibbs, Frank