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This is an earthenware bread bin with a clear glaze, used to store bread and protect it from flies, insects and rodents in the days before refrigerators were commonly available. It was used at Witheridge Farm in Hailey, Oxfordshire.

1 bread bin: earthenware; fair condition- chipped on rim

MERL miscellaneous note, Greta Bertram, 10 January 2013 – Mr T. Harris had a smithy at Witheridge Farm in Hailey, Oxfordshire. Upon his death in February 1960, his daughter, Mrs M. K. Fenn, donated a large number of his tools to the Museum. Mr Harris had previously donated a number of objects to the Museum in 1952 and 1956., MERL 'Handwritten accession' form (Museum of English Rural Life) – 'Standard museum name: … // Accession number: … // Classification: … // Negative number: … // Acquisition method: … // Acquired from: … // Date: … // Store: … // Condition: … // Recorder: … // Date: … // Description: Ceramic tub. Thick rim with a chip in it. Glazed inside and out, except for brick red rim, with crackled red brown glaze containing purply spots. // Dimensions: Height: 21.5cm. Diameter at bottom 22cm. At top 32.5cm. // Associated information: (1) Until refrigerators became generally available most fresh foods would not last above a few days and mainly needed to be protected from flies, insects and rodents… By the mid nineteenth century earthenware crocks and bins… were generally used for storing bread. // References: (1) Old Cooking Utensils: David J. Eveleigh (Shire Album 177).'

Ceramic, earthenware, Glaze

Fired, Glazed

Fenn, M. K. (Agent)