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1911.29.84

Slate-workers’ hand guard, a dome-shaped piece of leather with four slits cut in one side to create two loops. [ZM 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 25/11/2004]

On display

1911.29.84

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Collection type
Object
Description
Slate-workers’ hand guard, a dome-shaped piece of leather with four slits cut in one side to create two loops. [ZM 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 25/11/2004]
Cultural groups
English
Person
Maker Unknown Maker
Field collector Percy Manning
PRM source Percy Manning
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1905
Date collected
1905
Acquisition information
Donated: 1911
Materials and processes
Material Animal Leather Skin, Process Cutwork
Dimensions
Length: max 132 mm, Width: max 133 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1911.29.84
Research and responses

Oxford Geology Group mention Stonesfield slate quarry in a webpage about SSSIs in West Oxfordshire. They write 'The old mines situated at four localities around the village of Stonesfield (cited as Sites of Special Scientific Interest since 1955) form the type-locality of the Stonesfield Slates. ... The mines are one of the world's most famous vertebrate fossil sites. ... The Stonesfield Slate here also yielded in 1812 the first known pre-Tertiary mammals.' [website http://www.ogg.uk.com/#!west-oxfordshire/c11jb accessed 30/03/2015] [MJD 30/03/2015]

The Tewksbury Borough Council produced a leaflet in April 2004 about Cotswold Stone Slate roofing. They write 'Stonesfield Slate is the name generally given to frost-split stone slates, originally produced near the village of Stonesfield in West Oxfordshire. Because of its depth in the ground, the method of extraction of the slate was quite different to ‘presents’. The stone in rough block form called ‘pendle’ was hoisted to the surface from stone mines, and put out in nearby fields to become ‘frosted’. As the frost gradually split the stone along the thin natural bedding planes, these being a consequence of the geological formation of the material, slaters would work to assist the splitting process. The resulting slate was much thinner and more regular than the rougher ‘presents’, and was highly prized for the most prestigious roofs, such as those of Oxford colleges. The thinner slates also afforded an opportunity for some sophistication, such as an angled dressing of the sides to provide a very slight overlap when they were laid.' [http://www.stoneroof.org.uk/Tewksbury%20stone%20slate%20roofing.pdf accessed 30/03/2015]

http://www.communigate.co.uk/oxford/yarntonwithbegbrokehistorysociety/page4.phtml: Mr. Alan Cobb began his talk to the History Society about "Stonesfield Slates" by eschewing his own title. The "slates" to which the title refers should, in fact, more properly be "flat-stones" as Robert Plot called them, or tiles; the stones were part of a limestone belt which includes the Cotswolds and were laid down during the Jurassic period or thereabouts - that is, some 160 million years ago - and contained rich fossil deposits ( the sale of which provided supplementary income or at least beer money for those working the mines). The Stonesfield Slates were a close relation geologically to Cotswold tiles which are still in use in building projects today.[MJD 13/04/2015]

Search terms: Tool, Clothing Handgear, Handgear

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