N° d'objet
54/462
Description
This wooden spade was used for cleaning out soft silt from ditches and ponds. Wooden spades were chosen for this purpose because they did not cut into the original ditch profile or subsoil. This spade was used on Stonehill Farm, in Roxwell, sometime before 1890.
Description physique
1 spade: woodWhether the bend in the handle of the spade is deliberate or not is hard to say.
<DIV STYLE="text-align:Justify;font-family:Georgia;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:16;color:#000000;"><P><SPAN><SPAN>11. <B>Drainage spade</B><P> Wooden scooped spade from Roxwell in Essex, and used in the late nineteenth century for clearing out the soft silt and mud from drainage ditches and ponds. Wood was often the preferred material for such tools because it would not cut into the original profile of the ditch but only bring out the soft mud that had accumulated naturally. <P> 54/462</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV>
Historique d'archive
MERL ‘Associated information’ form – ‘Name of Object: // Age…: // Name and address of present owner: // Description of use to which it was put…:’Used for clearing out the soft silt of all types of ditches + ponds. The person who obtained the shovel said that the donor told him that wooden shovels (sometimes copper tipped) were used simply because they would not cut into the original ditch profile or subsoil. // Type of subsoil in the above area varies considerably between gravelly clay + pure gravel. Above farm is on slope of [?] valley. // Specimen had been lying around in a barn for the past sixty years. // Whether the bend in the handle is deliberate or not is hard to say. // J. W. Anstee.'
Date
1890
Nom d'objet
Matériel
Document électronique
- L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\60 series negatives\60_641.tif - High resolution image
