Here are some of the items that are in our loan boxes with some background information.
We have loan boxes available on the following topics/eras:
Ancient Greeks, Romans, Vikings, Tudors, Victorian Schools, Victorian Homelife, Toys Through Time, World War Two, and Mining.
Sessions can be delivered as outreach visits or as part of a private visit to the Smithy on any of the above topics. We are happy to deliver bespoke sessions on a variety of subjects, and can adapt our sessions to meet your pupils’ requirements.
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- Butter Pats - these would be used to shape butter into blocks
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- Cane - naughty schoolchildren would be hit with this by their teacher if they were disobedient in class, and depending on the severity of their naughtiness or the temper of the teacher they would be caned over the palms, knuckles, the backs of the legs, or even on the bottom!
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- Chamber Pot - these would be kept in your bedroom before the days of indoor toilets to save you having to walk down the garden path in the middle of the night to use the loo! Back-to-back houses belonging to poor working class Victorians didn't even have their own toilet - they would share one between up to as many as fifteen families - phew!
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- Backboard - another Victorian school punishment. If you were slouching, you would be made to hook this underneath your arms, forcing you to sit bolt upright. It is very uncomfortable, and means that you can't get any work done, but it teaches slouching students a lesson!
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- Diablo - a tricky game that many circus performers still use today - flipping the diablo up and catching it on the rope using the handles
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- Fingerstocks - another teachers' tool used in Victorian times. Fidgeting children would be made to put their hands behind their backs and into the fingerstocks. Although the children are not locked into them, they wouldn't dare escape because they'd be given the cane! If a child continued to fidget whilst wearing the fingerstocks, they would become stuck as they gradually work their way up and your fingers swell from the heat - and that means more punishment!
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- Dolly Pegs - these were used to hang out washing, but many poor Victorian children would turn them into dolls or soldiers to play with.
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- Cup & Ball - this is an example of a penny toy, simple wooden toys so-called because they would only have cost one penny. The object of the game is to flip the ball up into the air and catch it in the cup. It sounds easy, but it's quite tricky - and very addictive!
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- Copybooks - once a child had learned to write on a slate, they would move onto a pen and ink, and they would practise in a copybook, literally copying the alphabet into boxes over and over. As they progress through the copybook, the tasks become harder, and the styles of lettering become more fancy.
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- Dip Pens - so-called because you had to dip the nibs into ink, and you would only be able to write a few words at a time.
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- Hoop & Stick - these were outdoor toys, with the stick being used to tap the hoop along to keep it rolling upright along the street, and then the hook end would be used to catch it. They were often made by blacksmiths, and if the hoops were to break they could be repaired by heating the metal and hammering it back into a hoop again, but each time it would be repaired it would get smaller!
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- Scrubbing Brush - used to clean surfaces, floors, and even the front step. It was hard work. Washing Blue - this was added to water to turn it blue, and the clean white washing would be rinsed in the blue water to make it appear extra-white. Darning Mushroom - this would be put inside a sock or knitted garment to hold its shape while you darned it. Darning is a special type of sewing to fill in the holes in worn-out fabric.
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- Humming Top - the top handle would be pumped up and down, which makes the top spin. When it is released, the top spins upright, and the tiny holes around the edge make a humming noise as the air goes through them.
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- Icing Syringe and dessert mould. We still use similar items nowadays, but they are made from plastic or silicone rubber. These are tin and copper.
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- Ink Wells. These would be filled with ink for use with a dip pen.
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- Slate - this one is double-sided, with a plain side and a gridded side, used for arithmatic.
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- Slates & Pencils - these were used by small children to learn to write on, as paper was very expensive in Victorian times - slates could be wiped with a damp cloth and the writing would disappear. The pencils are made from slate too, and it scratches the surface making a horrible screeching sound.
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- Soap - unless you were very wealthy, the same bar of soap would be used to clean everything in the house: your clothes, dirty dishes, the floor, your hair and your body!
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- Swing Toys - these worked by squeezing the bottoms of the handles together, which makes the character on the top flip over, jump, and do tricks depending on how quickly and how hard you squeeze.
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- Washing Tongs - these would be used to grab the wet washing out of the dolly tub, or the hot water of the burning copper (a huge pot for boiling clothes in).
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- Whip & Top - you would wrap the whip around the top and pull quick to release it across the floor, then you would thrash it with the whip to make the top spin round on the pointed end. It's very tricky, and quite dangerous too!
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- Wind-up Toy - this is chicken is made of tin, and has a simple clockwork mechanism inside it that would be wound with a key. The chicken then hops around and pecks at the floor. It is made from folded thin pieces of tin that have quite sharp edges.
