59/209

This is the blade from a mattock, a tool used for grubbing up soil. It is known as a ‘cabbie’ in English and a ‘caibe’ in Scottish Gaelic. It was found in an abandoned crofter’s cottage at Clashnessie in the Scottish Highlands. A mattock head typically has an axe blade and an adze, or a pick and an adze. This blade is diamond-shaped with a slight upward curve, and has a round socket.

1 mattock; metal

MERL ‘Associated information’ form – ‘Very much a Celtic tool. We also have a similar tall from Cornwall (Acc. ’53 [53/593]) & in Wales the tool is indispensible for farm & garden work. J. G. Jenkins finds it quite impossible to work in the garden without a CAIB! – constantly needed for furrow cutting, weeding, clod breaking & a great many other tasks.’, Miscellaneous label in accession file – ‘Head of hoe called ‘cabbie’ (Phonet: [kabi], Gaelic orthog: ‘caibe (?)’) // From abandoned crofter’s cottage at Clashnessie on the west coast of Sutherland (28/8/58). // (For use the iron head is mounted on a straight wooden haft about 4 feet long. The ‘cabbie’ is still sometimes used in the region for lifting potatoes).’