51/227

This is a slatter’s hammer with a steel head and wooden handle, used for splitting and dressing roofing stone. The slatter would shape the stone to the correct size as they worked. This hammer came from Mr Jackie Bostock, a slatter from Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.

1 slater's hammer: wood and metal [steel]; good condition

Citation in publication [H. J. Massingham, 'Country Relics' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939)] –'The tools for quarrying and slatting roof stone are few and, with one exception, extremely simple. They consist of a dressing-iron, a slat-pick or pittaway (the latter name is now obsolute), a slatting-hammer, a fromard and a slat-rule...[page break] The slatting-hammer for splitting and dressing the stone is a small light hammer of tempered steel, incurved and flattened, barely 2 in. in width and rather longer on one side of the handle than the other.' (pp. 18-19) [see also pp. 22-23], MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 'This slatter’s hammer is used for splitting and dressing roofing stone. The stone was shaped to the correct size by the slatter as he [they] worked. // The head of the hammer is made of steel and is slightly concave in shape. It is narrow and rather longer on one side of the handle than the other. The handle is made of wood, and the hammer itself is of fairly light weight. It measures 11.6 inches in length, and the head is 8 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. // Mr. Massingham obtained the hammer from Mr. J. Bostock of Winchcomb [sic] (Gloucestershire).', MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, circa 1951] - 'Museum of English Rural Life // Equipment to be loaned to the Cotswold Tradition Exhibition // Cat Ref. No.: // 51/227 M // Slatter's Hammer [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: // ... Slatter Hammer. ... // Loaned by The Massingham Collection.', MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, October 1989] – 'ACC. NO.: 51/227 // NAME: SLATER'S HAMMER // NEG NO.: 35/38, 35/114 // STORAGE: '

Wood, Metal, steel