66/346

Frail,

This is a flail or ‘frail’ basket, made of plaited rush sewn round and round to form a flexible flat basket with a cover and has two carrying handles. It was used by the donor in High Roding, Essex, in the 1920s. These baskets were used by farm workers to carry their meals – breakfast, elevenses, fourses and ‘beaver’ (a meal eaten by farm workers out in the open between breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner) – and also their tools. They were usually carried over the shoulder with a short curved stick through the handles. This type of basket was also known as a ‘flag-basket’ or ‘bait’ in Suffolk, and a ‘vittle bag’ or ‘baiting-poke’ in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

1 basket: rush

Arnold Hayden used this basket in the 1920s to carry his lunch to the fields. Although it was earlier thought that his father used the same basket before 1914, it has since been recorded that these baskets had a limited life, and so seems more probable that his father used one similar to this. It was possible to buy these baskets at any village store., MERL 'Catalogue of baskets' form – 'NAME: BASKET (FRAIL) (maker unknown) // Acc. No.: 66/346 // Group: PERSONAL USE // Neg. no.: 60/7884 // Place of origin: Essex. // Period in use: Date used: 192– // DESCRIPTION // Materials: Rush. // Shape and construction: Strip of plaiting sewn round & round to make a flexible flat basket with a cover. The handles go right round the basket & through the lid on one side. // Dimensions: Height 12” Width: 5” Length: 16” // Use: A workman carried his lunch in this to the fields, usually over his shoulder with a short curved stick through the handles. Also used for carrying tools. // Dialect names: FLAIL. FRAIL. FLAG-BASKET. Bait. Suffolk. Vittle bag. Bucks. [Buckinghamshire] Oxon. [Oxfordshire] Baiting-poke.// Distribution: // Additional notes:'

1920 - 1929

1920s

Hayden, Arnold (Agent)
Wright, Dorothy (Recorder)