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The Chimney Crook 4th October 2018
Yesterday
was a fabulous and exciting day, and no, before you ask we didn't find
a thief in the chimney, but Calvin did unearth something totally
extraordinary!
Wednesdays at Orchard Barn is a
Volunteers day of ‘site development’.
Activities range from hedge-renovation/laying to making, laying a
beaten earth floor to wading our way through decades of undergrowth.
Remarkably after eleven
and a half years there are still areas we have yet to ‘explore’.
To put you in the picture, yesterday
I was dressing and fitting shingles (nothing new there I hear you say).
Steve
was making replacement stakes for a deadwood screen. Harry was boldly
conquering Sweet Chestnut logs - cleaving shingle blanks that so
wanted to mature into boomerangs! Kevin and Calvin were clearing brash
to the
north of the big pond and multi-tasking with
a bit of compost heap construction.
You
will know by now that our
off-grid approach to any task is a hand operated one. Loppers and
scythettes are much used in our voyage of discovery through the bramble
thickets. During our adventures we’ve found and reclaimed mini
mountains of ‘hidden treasure’. Apologies it decaying metal doesn't
float your boat, but well, I totally love it. Rusty old iron work,
hinges, pintels and lengths of blacksmith
made wrought iron chains – I’m in awe at smith craftsmanship of
previous
generations. …
Back to the present - I needed to
leave early yesterday
and was just pulling out of the gate when Calvin approached me with the
most unusual ‘find’ yet. It appeared to have sharp saw-like teeth but
with a back bar and top ring. Turns out (and big thanks to Will for
identifying it) Calvin had found a Chimney Crook/Ladder. It’s a device
for holding kettles and cauldrons over an open fire either outside or
in an inglenook chimney. The ‘teeth’ are indeed ratchets for lifting or
lowering the height of the pot. The new find is gorgeous! This is one
rusty
artefact that we will be reinstating!
Following my posting on Facebook I
can now tell you our Chimney Crook is also known as a Trammel or
Ratenchoke (thank-you Mark).
Photos to the left are supplied by
Simon
Summers. Below is Calvin with the Orchard Barn find of the year!
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