51/753

An oven peel was used for lifting bread and other foodstuffs in and out of a baker’s oven, which was usually very deep. They were in common use in most farmhouses during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This peel is made of wood with a wooden handle. Nothing is known of its origins.

1 oven peel; wooden; good condition

MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 'Nothing is known of the origin of this peel. It was used for inserting the dough into a brick oven and withdrawing the baked loaves. These ovens were usually very deep, so a large handled peel was needed. // It is made of wood, in the shape of a flat, long-handled spade. The spade part is particularly long, measuring 1 foot 4 inches in length and 8.5 inches in width. The handle is socketed into the spade by a long sliver and measures 2 feet 2.25 inches in length. A hook is screwed into the end of the handle so that the peel could be hung up beside the oven when not in use. // See also 51/261.', MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 51/261 – ‘Oven peels were used in most farm houses in the 18th and 19th centuries for inserting and withdrawing loaves from the brick oven. It was usually made of iron, but sometimes of wood, in the shape of a flat, long-handled shovel. // The name PEEL derives from the French “pelle”, a long-handled shovel in common use in France and Italy. Gertrude Jekyll writing in 1925, said that they still survive in the south-west of England as CORNISH SHOVELS., Lavinia Smith Catalogue (D60/28) - 'A list of the contents of the East Hendred museum. July 5 1940 // Heating and Cooking // 169-170. Three peels for taking out the bread. One is wood, one iron and one steel.' (The other two are likely to be 51/754 and 51/755), Lavinia Smith Catalogue (D60/28) - 'A list of the contents of the East Hendred museum. July 5 1940 // The Fire and Hearth // 9. peel for taking bread from an oven . . Farebrother' (This could also be in reference to 51/755 and 51/754. The oven peel appears to be recorded twice in Lavinia Smith's catalogue on two separate lists - one perhaps made at a later date?), Heritage of the Hendreds Exhibition 1969 - 'Catalogue of Exhibits // Number 59 // Oven Peel // Lent by Museum of English Rural Life' (The catalogue description could also refer to 51/754 and 51/755), Heritage of the Hendreds Exhibition 1969 - 'Catalogue of Exhibits // Number 60 // Oven Peel // Lent by Museum of English Rural Life' (The catalogue description could also refer to 51/754 and 51/755)

Rippon, Miss Dorothy May Lyddon (Agent)
Fairbrother, Thomas