Greenford Museum
Cluster Schools
My
Artefact
is a chestnut roaster, which would be used by a Victorian
housewife or maid in the kitchen; a cooking ‘utensil’ like this one
would be used in times that varied. The artefact is around one hundred
years old and has become quite worn and rusty.
The
object, and many others of its kind, was forged into its proper shape but
the handle and the pot were made separately, and welded together in the
correct position. It has a very long handle; the pot is round and fits
forty chestnuts.
My object, as shown above, was made of iron or copper depending on the
price of metals at the time. Demand for metals such as the ones chestnut
roasters in the age of Victoria that the prices go up for every different
thing that these utensils like these were discarded from use until the 80s
where they still weren’t very popular.
By Rowan
Butter
Pats
Butter pats were used to stamp patterns into the butter. They did this so
other people can tell which farm the butter came from .Each farm had a
different pattern on the stamp. On a
farm the butter stamp was used nearly every day. It has 
not
been damaged and it was
from the Victorian times.
First the butter is shaped by the long scotch hands then it was stamped with the butter pats. Next the butter was wrapped in grease proof paper and occasionally doc leaves. It was taken to market or shops in the town.
This butter pat has a swan carved in to it with leaves up the side of it. By Maizie
Victorian
coins
This
Victorian
coin is a one penny. It is dated 1901, the final year of Queen
Victorian’s rule. It is made from copper. The coin is in good condition
although on one side the picture is a bit worn away it is a dark brown
colour and is about the same size of our current two pence coin and
weight. The coins are quite common and are worth less than a pound.
In 1859 the British struck their last copper pennies, halfpennies an
d
farthings. From 1860 new smaller bronze coins were struck for these
denominations.. This
penny was designed in 1860. This
new smaller size remained in use into the 20th century and became the
model for Australian penny and halfpenny coins until 1964. The full Latin
legend from both sides of the copper coin was placed on the head of the
smaller bronze penny. The value ONE PENNY was added to avoid confusion
that it was an old copper halfpenny.
By Ron
Barge
Plates
The Barge
Plates looks like it was made in a factory by a big machine. It looks like
it was made from lead
because it has the rusty mouldy look. The
barge Plates has been worn away and damaged over the years it has been
used and thrown about. The damage could have been conflicted by being
dropped and having nails being stuck into Barges. The
Barge Plates looks like it was used for putting on Barges to tell other
people what date it was made in and what river they belong on. Similar
objects are used today like car plates and boat plates like the Barge
plate. The people who used it could have been the owner of a Barge or
boat. This object could have been used everyday or a few days a week.
This object works by nailing it to a place on the Barge that everyone
could see for etc: The front or back. The Barge plate could be
valuable now but it might not have been in 1930 when it was made.
By Jasmin
FLEECE
COMBS
Here
are some fleece combs; they are over 900 hundred years old.
We
think someone got a big piece of wood and carved the shape out of it, and
then I think the person got a piece of metal and carve little pieces of
metal which would be the prongs. They are a bit worn, because it has
probably been used by farmers loads of times since 1900.They are dark
brown and made out wood, with metal prongs. The handle is 13cm, and the
head is 22cm, they also each weigh 250gr.
They were used to pull off the wool of sheep so that the wool could be
used to stuff pillows and cushions. Today electric shavers and combs are
used instead.
We think they were owned by
a
reasonably poor person who worked as a farmer for a living. They probably
used it every couple of days, because the sheep’s wool did not grow very
fast. The person who owned them would have held one in each hand and
combed the sheep from head to toe. When he/she had done that they would
pull all the wool out of the combs. These fleece combs were used to make
the fleece straight. They were handy to fluff up the fleece after it was
washed. All the seeds and bits were removed. Then the wool was
straightened and cleaned and ready for spinning.
These were probably used on farms. At auction today, these fleece combs
would be sold for £25 -£30.
By Becky
World
War 2 Medals
If
you saved someone in World War 2 you would get a medal of honour. To get
the African star you would have to qualify in the African army and speak
African. 
When
you get awarded this medal you be given 3 claps from all of the crowd. It
was made out of
bronze. This medal is it perfect condition it is not worn out. No damage
what so ever. If
you get this medal you have to wear it
every day.
This medal is half French half German the medal design is German but the pattern
is French. They were built from 1940 to 1950 so it was only
out for ten years. It was made out of gold and a lot of people got the
medal while it was out. It had the initials GN on it. This medal is
worn out you can’t read some of the writing on it. It is a bit damaged
because you can see scratches in the light. This medal could be valuable
it could be worth at least £300.
