51/27

This is a hammer used for stone-walling. The sharper edge of the iron head was used to break larger blocks of stone, while the blunter edge was used to crack the stone into the required size.

1 hammer: wood [ash] and metal [iron]; good condition

Citation in publication [H. J. Massingham, 'Country Relics' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939)] – 'The quarryman who instructed me in the function of the jad...knew...the sandy yellow stone whose surface is best treated with a walling hammer as in dry-walling...[page break] A tool in my Hermitage I take much pride in is my walling hammer. It has a primeval robustness, an innocent deadliness of appearance, enhanced by its weight of over ten pounds, that suggest it might have been worn by a Soloman Islander. It belonged to [the donor], who died in 1935 at the age of 75, and he used it for building the dry stone field-walls round Corndean and Postlip high above Winchcomb. The ends of the iron head on the short flattened ash handle are of tempered steel, and the sharper edge breaks the larger blocks, while the blunter cracks the stone into the requisite sizes. This is the only tool, properly so called, that the stone-waller uses, and, as it likewise came in handy for extracting walling stone from the top-strata of the quarry, it may be said to be the sole agency by which a landscape some sixty miles by thirty was altered from a high uniform turfy plateau. The field-walls transformed the elevated prairie for the good of the eye, if not necessarily for the social service of man, and the walling hammer was the weighty wand that did it.' (pp. 33-34), MERL 'Catalogue index' card – ‘HAMMER [‘(Stone- Walling)’ Scored through] // DATE ACQUIRED: January, 1951 // GROUP: CRAFTS- STONE- WALLS // NEGATIVE: 35/103 // PERIOD: about 1885 // PLACE OF ORIGIN: The H. J. Massingham Collection // NUMBER: 51/27M // DESCRIPTION: The hammer was given to Mr. Massingham by [the donor], who died in 1935, at the age of 75. // The ends of the iron head on the short flattened ash handle are of tempered steel and the sharper edge breaks the larger blocks while the blunter cracks the stone into the requisite sizes. // This is the only tool, properly so called, that the stone- waller uses. // The hammer is 12" long, the head measures 11" wide by 2.5" deep. It weights 5 lb.', MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, circa 1951] - 'Museum of English Rural Life // Equipment to be loaned to the Cotswold Tradition Exhibition // Cat Ref. No.: // [tick] 51/27 M // [tick] Stone Walling Hammer [Cleaned] [tick] ...', MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, circa 1951] - '[insert] MASSINGHAM FILE [end insert] // THE COTSWOLD TRADITION // AN EXHIBITION AT CIRENCESTER PARK // MAY-SEPTEMBER 1951 ... // RECEIPT. // Received with gratitude the following articles, collected from Reading University on the 29th April, 1951: // ... Stone Walling Hammer ... // Loaned by The Massingham Collection.', MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, October 1989] – 'ACC. NO.: 51/27 // NAME: STONE WALLING HAMMER // NEG NO.: 35/103 // STORAGE: '

1885 - 1885

Hammer, stone-breaking, Hammer, stone-walling

Wood, ash, Metal, iron