Object number
74/131/26
Collection
Creator
Description
A prodder is a tool used in rag rugging for making holes in the backing of the rug through which the wool or fabric is drawn. This prodder is in the form of a clothes peg which has been made from a short length of wood which has been split and bound at the top with a metal band. It was made by David Harper of Dunsden, Oxfordshire. The prodder is part of the Hemeon Collection of rug-making tools and thrift rugs, and is associated with the samples 74/131/41, 47, 52, 65, 66, 71.
Physical description
1 clothes peg prodder: wood, metal
Archival history
MERL Catalogue Form (temporary) – ‘Object name: PEG // Other name: PRODDER // … // Notes: This is a roughly hand-cut clothes peg – used as a prodder. It is made from a short length of wood split to give two long prongs – with a narrow metal band nailed around the top.’, 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.
Production place
Dunsden
Object name
Material
Associated subject
External document
- L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\60 series negatives\60_12435.tif - High resolution image