51/13

, The Cotswold Tradition: Exhibition at Cirencester Park

Bird clappers were used for protecting crops from birds, making a noise when waved which scared them away. The donor said that boys were employed for 'crow-starving' when corn was planted and when it was 'in the ear'.

1 bird scarer: wood; leather; fair condition

Citation in publication [H. J. Massingham, 'Country Relics' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939)]- 'It is a mistake to think that the boy with the clappers for "starving the cros"- the "bird minder" as the old people called him- was only needed on the old farms when the "glad light grene" of the corn was misting the ploughland. After the seed was broad-casted, his services were as much in demand as after it had germinated... A clappers which preceded [page break] the wooden rattle and was used for both seed time and springing time hangs on the Hermitage wall. It belonged to the grandfather of Mr Harold G. Greening of Winchcomb, Herbert Green, who died at 81 and was eight years old when he first clattered it in the fields. It was made for him by his father and consists of a little oblong bat of larch-wood, 1/2 in. thick and 6 in. long, bound to two pieces of wood of the same size on either side of it by a white leather thong made from the skin on the underside of a horse's tail and, in Gloucestershire, an alternative to eelskin for the thongs of the flail. Sam Tipping of Ickford on the Bucks-Oxon border...had been a bird minder at ten years old for half-a-crown a week, working from sunrise to sunset to look after the spring corn and in winter from 8am to 4pm.' (pp. 111-112), MERL 'Catalogue index' card – ‘BIRD SCARERS // DATE ACQUIRED: January, 1951 // GROUP: CULTIVATING Plant protection // NEGATIVE: 35/117 35/65 [‘35/177’ scored through and '35/66' scored through] // PERIOD: Before 1890 // PLACE OF ORIGIN: The H. J. Massingham Collection // NUMBER: 51/13M // DESCRIPTION: The clappers were given Mr. Massingham by Mr. Harold G. Greening of Winchcombe, Glos. [Gloucestershire] and they had previously belonged to his grandfather. They are likely to be 60 or 70 years old (i.e. before 1890). Bird clappers were common before the rattle. // Mr. Massingham says, "Boys were employed for 'crow-starving', both when the corn was planted as well as when it was in the ear. They were paid anything up to 6d. or 7d. a week. One man I know was paid 2d., and another 1d. and a swede." // The clappers are made out of three pieces of 1/2" larch joined together with a leather thong. They are 9 3/4" long, 2 5/8" wide at wide at the broader end and are in good condition.', MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, circa 1951] - 'Museum of English Rural Life // Equipment to be loaned to the Cotswold Tradition Exhibition // Cat Ref. No.: // [tick] 51/13 M // [tick] Bird Scarer [Cleaned] [tick] ...', MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, circa 1951] - '[insert] MASSINGHAM FILE [end insert] // THE COTSWOLD TRADITION // AN EXHIBITION AT CIRENCESTER PARK // MAY-SEPTEMBER 1951 ... // RECEIPT. // Received with gratitude the following articles, collected from Reading University on the 29th April, 1951: // ... Bird scarer. ... // Loaned by The Massingham Collection.', MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, October 1989] – 'ACC. NO.: 51/13 // NAME: BIRD SCARER [CLAPPER] // NEG NO.: 35/65, 35/117 // STORAGE: P. Ex. [Permanent Exhibition] Seeding.'

Winchcombe

1850-01-01 - 1890-01-01

Wood, Leather

Massingham, H. J. (Harold John) (Donor)