Object number
64/212
Title
Potato hopper,
Exhibition
Description
The hopper is a basket used to put potatoes into a sack when they have been lifted from the soil. It is a circular funnel-shaped basket with an open bottom. The hopper was put into the mouth of the sack and potatoes were thrown into the hopper. This basket, made of brown and white willow, comes from Saint Ives, Cambridgeshire. Other names for the hopper include ‘dolly’ in Cambridgeshire, ‘nancy’ and ‘blunk’.
Physical description
1 basket: white and brown willow
Archival history
MERL 'Catalogue of baskets' form – 'NAME: BASKET (hopper) (J. Harrison) // Acc. No.: 64/212 // Group: HARVESTING. Roots // Neg. no.: 60/5924 // Place of origin: Huntingdonshire // Period in use: Present // DESCRIPTION // Materials: White & brown willow. // Shape and construction: A circular funnel. The 23 stakes, scallomed to a hoop & a band of pairing on the side are brown, the rest white, slewed. Border 4-behind-1. // Dimensions: Diam. top: 22” Diam. bottom: 11” Depth 19” Flow after 10 1/2” // Use: For filling a sack with potatoes // Dialect names: A “DOLLY.” (Cambridge) “Hopper.” (Lancs. [Lancashire]) “Nancy.” “Bunk.” // Distribution: // Additional notes: FitzRandolph & Hay. 1926. [FitzRandolph, Helen & Hay, M. Doriel, ‘Osier Growing and Basketry’. The Rural Industries of England and Wales No. 2. Oxford, 1926] p.58 say it held 4-bushel & filled an 8-bushel sack. Method called “sacking-up-twice”. Basket stood in bottom of sack, filled & emptied. Then stood on the potatoes & filled again & emptied. Saved labour & time.'
Object name
Material
Technique
Associated subject
Associated person/institution
External document
- L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\60 series negatives\60_5924.tif - High resolution image
- L:\MERL\Objects\Baskets\64_212_cob.tif - High resolution image
