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Salve box, Lincolnshire, c.1870. Mix of rancid butter and tar, used to protect sheep's fleece in winter and also to control parasites.
This wooden salve box comes from Lincolnshire and is believed to date from circa 1870. Salve was used before the days of dipping to protect a sheep's fleece in the winter from rain and also to control parasites. The salve was usually a mixture of rancid butter and tar. The box would be strapped to the shepherd's arm for convenience while he held the sheep, and the depression in the front was for paint used to mark the sheep which had been treated.

1 salve box: wood; fair condition

MERL 'Catalogue index' card – ‘Description: Salving was mainly practised among mountain breeds of sheep with the object of protecting the fleece during the winter from rain, and also as a means of controlling parasites. The salve usually consisted of a mixture of rancid butter important from the Continent and tar. It was applied to the base of the fleece which was parted in rows about an inch apart along the sheep’s back. // The salve box was used for this treatment. It was strapped to the shepherd’s arm. A depression on the base next to the box held marking pigment. // The process is described in Wilson, J. M. Rural Cyclopedia, Edinburgh, 1849. For further notes on the use of the box see Classified Information. // For a photograph of the box on someone’s arm see Negative Index’, Letter, The News Editor, Grimsby Evening Telegraph, to C. A. Jewell, 24 March 1958 – ‘The shepherd’s salve box which is illustrated in the accompanying photograph was given to the Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading, as the result of reading an appeal in the Grimsby Evening Telegraph for bygones relating to the countryside in North Lincolnshire. Mr. Searby, the proprietor of the Prussian Queen, Saltfleetby, was the donor. He says that it was used before the days of dipping and was made locally about 90 years ago. The box contained the salve, used generally for the treatment of ‘scab’, and the small depression in front was for paint to mark the sheep which had been treated to distinguish it from the rest of the flock. It was strapped to the shepherd’s arm for convenience while he handled the sheep…’

Lincolnshire