Object number
53/589
Description
Small Cornish pitchfork or sheaf pitcher. A prong was pushed under the twine binding the sheaf, using the long handle to lift it onto a wagon.
This unusually small pitchfork was used on a farm near Zennor, Cornwall. Unlike the more common, larger forks, the use of this specimen was limited to the corn harvest. It is a sheaf pitcher, for pitching corn sheaves onto carts. One of the prongs was pusehd under the twine or straw rope, which bound the sheaf together, and by means of the long handle it was thrown onto the cart.
Physical description
1 pitchfork: metal; good condition
Archival history
MERL 'Handwritten catalogue' form – ‘[description – not always present] A small pitchfork - very unusual for pitching sheaves onto a cart. The prong was pushed around the binding twine and the sheaf turn up by that // [ink sketch]'
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