63/603

Herring wash basket,

Stanley Bird (Manufacturer)

This herring wash basket, also known as a 'wash mound' was for use in the kipper industry. It was made by Stanley Bird, a basketmaker of Great Yarmouth, for the Museum. It is a round basket made of white willow and cane with two roped handles. Different baskets were used throughout the kippering process. In stage 1, the herrings were split and gutted by hand and put into an ‘oval cobbing basket’. In stage 2, the split herrings were washed in the ‘herring wash basket’. In stage 3, the washed herrings were put into a ‘kipper drip maund’ where they stood in brine and orange dye for an hour before being hung up for smoking.

1 basket: white willow; cane

An order of 12 baskets from Stanley Bird (Basketware) Ltd. to Dorothy Wright, care of the Keeper at MERL. According to the delivery note, the order consisted of: 1 quarter cran; 1 small cran; 1 eighth cran; 1 oblong Hull lander; 1 oval Aberdeen lander; 1 liver basket; 1 ice basket; 1 trawl basket; 1 cobbing basket; 1 kipper basket; 1 wash basket; 1 eel pot., Stanley Bird (Basketware) Ltd. label: F.H.6. Willow & cane herring wash maund., MERL 'Catalogue of baskets' form – 'NAME: HERRING WASH BASKET (Stanley Bird) // Acc. No.: 63/603 // Group: FISHING. SEA. // Neg. no.: 60/5244 // Place of origin: Great Yarmouth. Norfolk. // Period in use: Present. // DESCRIPTION // Materials: White willow & cane. // Shape and construction: A round fitched basket of very heavy construction. The bottom is fitched with 2 stakes to every stick set in when the base is 7” across. Wide upset, & bi-stakes between all stakes after the upsett. 2 fitches. 6-rod-behind-2 border & 2 roped handles, upright, worked over it. // Dimensions: Bottom diam: 18” Top diam: 23” Height 13”. BS. [number of bottom sticks] 10 St. [number of stakes] 39. Bi-St. [bye stakes] 39 // Use: For washing herrings after they have been split & gutted, & put in OVAL COBBING basket. Stage 2 in kippering. // Dialect names: Wash mound. // Distribution: // Additional notes:'

Great Yarmouth

1963 - 1963

Wood, willow, white, Plant fibre, rattan

Wright, Dorothy (Recorder)