2013/15

Clare's Textiles Ltd. (Manufacturer)

This milking cap was worn when milking cows on Anne Corbin's parents' farm, Theale Farm, in Slinfold, near Horsham, in West Sussex. It accompanies a milking coat also given to MERL by Anne Corbin which had a pocket for the cap. The cap was used until circa 1950 when Mrs Corbin's father gave up milking and changed to beef cattle, breeding pedigree Hereford cattle. Mrs Corbin remembers rearing the calves when she was in the 6th Form at school, before she went to university in Reading in 1950. Mrs Corbin's parents were named Howard and Helen Terrell, and their farm in Slinfold was a mixed farm of approximately 180 acres, on clay soil, with a small, hand-milked, herd of about 20 dairy shorthorn cows. The crops that were grown on the farm included cereals, fodder crops for the cows and grass and hay crops. Anne's father also grew 'Timothy' and 'Cocksfoot' for grass seed, and there was a small Horsham Stone quarry.

1 cap: textile; good condition.