64/152

Willow bands are used for tying bundles of willow rods to be used by basketmakers. This band is made of a stripped brown willow rod and is tied with a traditional knot. It comes from the osier beds of Bradford and Sons of Yeovil, Somerset, and donated to the Museum by a Reading basketmaker.

Willow

Miss Emily E. Mullins (1906–1967) was a basketmaker in Reading. Her family were basketmakers for at least five generations. Her father, William Mullins, had no sons and Emily chose to become a basketmaker and carry on the tradition. She ran a basketmaking business in Bath circa 1926–1939, and moved to London in 1940 where she made baskets for the war effort. Later, she moved to Reading where she took over her father’s job on his death at Cook’s Dairy and Farm Equipment Ltd., a basketmaking firm founded in 1760 by John Cook. Cook’s had premises at Market Place, Reading, and the workshop was at Silver Street, Reading. The Museum has an extensive collection of baskets and basketmaking tools (approximately 200) given to the Museum by Emily Mullins. No correspondence between the Museum and Emily Mullins was found in July 2012, and it is assumed from scraps of information (e.g. a note on the Adlib record for 63/61 which said that the 63/ baskets were made by Emily Mullins for the Museum and were therefore never used, and a note on the Adlib record for 64/147 which said that Emily Mullins made numerous baskets for the Museum in 1964) that the baskets were made by Emily Mullins at Cook’s Silver Street workshop and the tools were used by Emily Mullins at the same workshop., MERL 'Catalogue of baskets' form – 'NAME: BAND. (willow) // Acc. No.: 64/152 // Group: CRAFT. WOOD BASKETS // Neg. no.: Neg 60/6004 // Place of origin: Somerset. Yeovil // Period in use: // DESCRIPTION // Materials: Willow rod. Brown. // Maker: Bradford & Sons // Shape and construction: Band with knot. // Dimensions: 7 1/2” diameter. // Use: For tying the top of a bundle of willow rods. The butt end has another band round it, using the same knot. Standard & traditional among growers & basket makers. // Dialect names: // Distribution: // Additional notes: {Traditional knot “in Somerset”. DW [Dorothy Wright]} // See Card for note on tying willows in Fens – by Nisbet. The same knot as 63/75 & 66/39. Berks. [Berkshire]'

Yattendon

Cook's Dairy and Farm Equipment Ltd. ()
Wright, Dorothy (Recorder)