51/230

This bed key was for undoing the frame of an iron bedstead. It has three arms – two for undoing or tightening nuts and a third for dealing with a different type of fixing.

1 bed key: metal; good condition

Citation in publication [H. J. Massingham, 'Country Relics' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939)] –' They were just the type of carpenters to have hanging in their tool-shed what I have hanging in the Hermitage- an iron bed-key or "bed-wrench" in three arms (for different makes of bed) to unlock the old wooden or box-beds. Just such a key may have unlocked the bed in William Barnes's // "A woaken bedstead, black an' bright, Did teake my wearing bwones at night."' (p. 65), MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, October 1989] – 'ACC. NO.: 51/230 // NAME: BED KEY // NEG NO.: 35/28 // STORAGE: '