Objectnummer
51/139/1-2
Beschrijving
This pit saw, with handle, was for cutting tree trunks into manageable timber. It was used in a saw pit just above a ford of Isbourne river in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.
Fysieke kenmerken
1 pit saw: metal; wood; good condition
Archiefgeschiedenis
Citation in publication [H. J. Massingham, 'Country Relics' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939)] –'The bottom sawyer could fall into a stupor or a dream or a trance; he could see visions or pile up pint pots of anticipation, but his fellow, elevated in quality as well as in position, must see nothing but the saw. Nothing but my saw with its double row of teeth at right angles, the one to the other. The pit-saw that hangs from end to end of the Hermitage, 5 1/2 ft. in length with a 22 in. handle-iron (One of the handles is detached and this ingeniously contrived barrel with straight spars at each end for grasping is now fixed into the middle of my pit-saw, stretched across the little museum because, owing to the saw's length, it would be entirely hidden in the thatch of the Hermitage if it were at its right end) at the broader end (not detachable) and ending in an 18 in. cross-piece of wood, was the very saw that streamed up and down there where now the saw-pit shed leans and droops [page break] to its fall against the elm trees. But there is still a romance in the thought of how my biting saw with its quivering blade had been the medium by which many a tree had become a gate, a waggon, or a dung-cart.' (pp. 63-64)., MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 'This pit saw came from Winchcombe (Glos.) and was used in an old saw pit just above a ford of the Isbourne river. The pit was 15 ft. long, 6 ft. deep and 4 ft. wide, revetted with dry-stone walling from the local quarry and timbered with planks at one end, partly for securing the tree to be sawn and partly for firming the top of the pit. The trunk was then rolled over the pit on two wooden rollers. Mr. George Greening was bottom sawyer there in 1890, and said that it took a week to cut a tree 2 ft. across and 13 ft. long into coffin boards.', MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, October 1989] – 'ACC. NO.: 51/139 // NAME: PIT SAW + HANDLE // NEG NO.: 35/140, 35/196 // STORAGE: P.Ex. (Permanent Exhibition) Timber.'
Datum
1800-01-01 - 1899-12-31
Vervaardiging periode
Nineteenth century
Objectnaam
Materiaal
Elektronisch document
- L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\35 series negatives\Scans\35_140.tif - High resolution image
- L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\35 series negatives\Scans\35_196.tif - High resolution image
- L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\35 series negatives\Scans\35_227.tif - High resolution image