74/131/57

A small oval mat made from plaited rush sewn together, with decorative coils in the centre. It was made either by Mrs Phoebe Owen of Shiplake, Oxfordshire, or by Mrs Dorothy Harris of Haselbury Plucknett, Somerset. The mat is part of the Hemeon Collection of rug-making tools and thrift rugs.

MERL Catalogue Form (temporary) – ‘Object name: SAMPLE – Mat // … // Notes: Small mat – using plaited rushes – sewn together with decorative coils in centre’, A letter in the accession file indicates that this mat may have been made by Dorothy Harris, rather than Phoebe Owen as indicated on the MERL Catalogue Form (temporary). Mrs Harris sent a letter to MERL which was believed to refer to 74/131/57 on 30 May 1976 – ‘I have received a letter from my friend… written after an interview with you regarding the miniature rush mat I sent to Mrs Hemeon for her collection… I had forgotten all about the mat when the enclosed letter appeared in our W.I. “Home & country” in April this year. Mrs Hemeon had a previous letter printed in H&C 2 years ago asking for mats. I wrote offering mine which she accepted… It was only a miniature floor mat which I carried with me when demonstrating Rushwork at W.I.s. I am now retired. It was made from rushes cut & dried by myself from the River Isle – near Hambridge in this county of Somerset. We are very fortunate in this area being able to harvest our own rushes (SCIRPUS LACUSTRIS). // [My friend] said you would like one or two more specimens, at the present I am rather short of rushes, as we only cut once a year in June or July when they are in flower – then we have to dry them, so that they are not ready for use until about September…’, MERL Miscellaneous Note, Greta Bertram, 10 December 2013 – The Hemeon Collection of rug-making tools and thrift rugs (74/131/1–74) was put together by Maidie F. Hemeon. Mrs Hemeon was interested in the tradition of ‘thrift’ rugs – rugs made using old fabrics and home-made or home-adapted tools. This type of rug has many names, including ‘rag’, ‘proddie’, ‘peggie’, ‘hooky’, ‘proggy’, ‘clippy’ and ‘bodgy’ rug. These rugs became widespread during the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, but by the 1920s the craft was dying out except in areas of poverty or where tradition had a stronger hold. The necessity for thrift during World War II brought a brief revival, but it did not last long. Mrs Hemeon published a letter in the June 1970 edition of the Women’s Institute ‘Home & Country’ magazine in which she expressed her ambition to trace and preserve all the tools used in the craft before it was industrialised. She hoped to build up a display of samples, materials, tools and coloured photos of finished work in use, for demonstration, exhibition and educational purposes, and to simulate interest in making rag rugs as a living craft rather than as the remains of a dead one. She received many donations in response to the article, and in due course the collection came to MERL. It is likely that some of the samples in the collection were made by Mrs Hemeon. Further information can be found in the MERL Archives, D79/31.