51/663

Salt boxes, for storing salt, were once common in cottage and farmhouse kitchens and were usually hung near the fire to keep salt dry. This salt box is made of oak and has leather hinges, and there is a hole in the back by which the box can be hung.

1 salt box: wood (oak); leather; good condition

MERL 'Handwritten accession' form (Museum of English Rural Life) – 'Standard museum name: Salt box // Accession number: 51/633 // Classification: Domestic, storing food // Negative number: 35/457 // Acquisition method: // Acquired from: Lavinia Smith collection // Date: // Store: // Condition: // Recorder: Student project // Date: Spring 1995 // Description: Made of oak, leather hinges (iron hinges would rust). Marks of damp salt clearly visible on the bottom of the box // Dimensions: Length - 24 cm, Width = 20.5 cm, Height = 28.5 cm // Associated information: // References:', MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 'Salt was commonly kept in a box near the fire or on the overmantel of a cottage or farmhouse kitchen to keep it dry. They vary in type from the ornamental box with drawers to the strictly utilitarian, of which this box is a good example. It is made of oak and has leather hinges. These were used because iron hinges would rust through contact with the salt which attracts damp. The marks of damp salt are plainly visible on the bottom of the box. // The bottom measures 9 inches by 8 inches, and the back is 11.25 inches in height. // There is a hole in the back by which the box can be hung up.', Lavinia Smith Catalogue (D60/28) - 'A list of the contents of the East Hendred museum. July 5 1940 // Small articles on the Wood Table // 105-106. Two salt boxes. The importance of the saltbox and trencher is seen fromm [sic] this quotation in Thomas Love Peacock's novel Melincourt where a young labourer, fearing that some one means to take away his sweetheart says, ''He may take away chair and table, saltbox and trencher, bed and bedding, pig and pigstye but neither he nor all his paper men together shall take away his own Zukey from Robin Ruddyface.'' ' (The entry appears to be crossed out in pencil in Smith's catalogue), Lavinia Smith Catalogue (D60/28) page 16 - 'No.105 // [pencil sketch] // Salt Box - with leather hinge', Heritage of the Hendreds Exhibition 1969 - 'Catalogue of Exhibits // Number 57 // Salt Box // Lent by Museum of English Rural Life' (The catalogue description could also refer to 51/759), MERL ‘Object treatment report’ form – ‘Condition: Leather hinge had become very brittle and broken over its full length // Treatment: Leather hinge replaced, using old tacks and tack holes // Date: 10/6/2008’

Rippon, Miss Dorothy May Lyddon (Agent)