66/48/1

A beating iron, also known as a ’shop iron’ or ‘hand iron’, is a tool used by basketmakers for tapping and beating the weave of a basket to close it up, and also for cramming down the last stakes of a border. This beating iron consists of a short iron bar with one edge double the width of the other (for use on coarser work), and one end double the width of the other. The broken end possibly had a ring which enabled it to also be used as a commander, a tool for straightening and bending thick willow and cane. It was probably made by a local blacksmith, and was given to the Museum by Emily Mullins, a Reading basketmaker.

1 beating iron: iron bar; short

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: IRON (beating) // Acc. No.: 66/48/1–2 // Group: CRAFTS. WOOD BASKETS // Neg. no.: 60/8980 // Place of origin: Berkshire // Period in use: Pre-1965. // DESCRIPTION // Materials: Iron // Shape and construction: A short iron bar with one edge double the width on one side, & one end double the width of the other. In No.2 the narrow ends form a ring.* // Dimensions: 1) 9 3/4” long. at widest part 2” ring 1 1/2” inside 2) 12 1/2” long. at widest 2” // Use: For beating the weave of a basket to close it up, as in Close-randing & for various small hammering jobs. Constant use has splayed the edges, but one side is always wider for use on coarser work. No.2. has a dual purpose, the ring can be used as a Commander for straightening or bending thick rods. // Dialect names: // Distribution: // Additional notes: *No.1. is the older & was probably made by a local blacksmith.'

1965

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