51/811

This is an iron oven door with hinges by which it would be opened. Nothing is known of its origins.
Brick ovens for baking bread were a common feature in old farmhouses and better class cottages. The mouth of the oven was closed with a separate door made of wood or, later, sheet iron, and often with two handles which enabled it to be lifted completely away. This is an iron oven door with hinges by which it would be opened. Nothing is known of its origins.

1 oven door: iron; good condition

MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 'Although the exact date of this oven door is not known it is a more modern type than 51/501, 51/502, 51/503, being made of iron not wood. It has two iron bars with sockets at the end which could be fitted to the wall permitting the opening and closing of the door on hinges. The old style wooden doors, in contrast, were lifted bodily out of the aperture not hinged and latched. The door measures 19 inches by 14 inches and has an iron ring 4 inches wide which could be grasped to assist opening. // See 51/502 L', MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 51/502 – 'Brick ovens for baking bread were a common feature in old farmhouses and better class cottages. They showed on the exterior of the building as a semi-circular projection with a rounded top and its own roof. Inside the kitchen, the top of the oven was stepped back in brick work, and the inside of the oven was arched with a flat floor. The mouth of the oven was closed with a separate door of wood or sheet iron with two handles so that it could be moved right away. Wooden doors are earlier in date than iron ones.', No Lavinia Smith No. recorded., Heritage of the Hendreds Exhibition 1969 - 'Catalogue of Exhibits // Number 62 // Oven Door // Lent by Museum of English Rural Life' (The catalogue description could also refer to 51/503, 51/501 and 51/502)

Rippon, Miss Dorothy May Lyddon (Agent)