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A billhook is an edge tool used in hedging, coppice work and other woodland trades, and the tool shows great regional variety with each area having its own accepted pattern and shape. This is a Westmorland billhook, with a 10 inch blade and a double cutting edge. The blade is stamped with 'Elwell 4423-10'. It was made by Edward Elwell Ltd. of Wednesbury, Staffordshire, in the mid-twentieth century.

1 billhook: metal; wood

MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 'This 10 inch billhook is of the Westmorland type. It has a double cutting edge, the main one following the curve of the blade being 10.0 inches long; the other at the back running from the formation of the handle for about three quarter of the length of the blade being 8.5 inches long. The blade is tanged into the round handle which is 6.75 inches long. The whole tool is 17.0 inches long.', MERL 'Catalogue index' card – [54/705] – ‘Billhooks are used in hedging and coppice work, and they vary very greatly from region to region. The local traditional form of blade and balance first forged by the local smith are still followed by the large scale manufacturers of Sheffield and Birmingham. Each district has its own accepted pattern and shape. For example a Dorset man would never use the Nottinghamshire bill and for this reason the large firms still produce a great variety of bills, each one for a particular district or county. Messrs Edward Elwell of Wednesbury Staffordshire for example manufacture no less than thirty-six varieties of billhooks.’

Wednesbury

1940 - 1940

Wood, Metal

Middleton, R. H. (Agent)