What is this?

jeamimus

Maybe more for Heritage than Archaeology, but would anybody know what this is? I found a couple of these in the rubble of an old 19th century shed. The spikey end is 6 inches and it measures 16 inches across the top.

slowburner

jeamimus wrote: »

Maybe more for Heritage than Archaeology, but would anybody know what this is? I found a couple of these in the rubble of an old 19th century shed. The spikey end is 6 inches and it measures 16 inches across the top.

Any idea what the shed was used for?

slowburner

You could post it in heritage too, but this is an artefact and that is the stuff of archaeology!

goose2005

Would guess it was a piece of horse tackle

wayoutwest

The 6 inch spike looks like its designed to hammer in to either masonry or a very large/ thick bit of wood .....I could be wrong, but I would'nt have thought that horse carts have timberwork substantial enough to take such a fixing without splitting . Also a hammered fixing is more likely (unlike nuts/bolts/washers) to work loose with movement and vibration.

Aelfric

My tuppence worth:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/An-Unusually-Large-Wrought-Iron-Vintage-Scale-Original-Links-Plates-/142116811302?hash=item2116d27226:g:52kAAOSw4shX2Gzf

Arsemageddon

wayoutwest wrote: »

The 6 inch spike looks like its designed to hammer in to either masonry or a very large/ thick bit of wood ......

I think you're on the right track with this.

I think it looks like some kind of 19th century decorative wrought ironwork. The spikey bit looks very similar to the type of spike found on brackets used to hold guttering/rain goods in place. I'm guessing the object is some kind of bracket mounted on the exterior of a building.

wayoutwest

...I was thinking along the lines of some sort of rainwater downpipe fixing (for maybe securing two downpipes at once? - but it could be a bit tight trying to pin a 3" pipe to the wall face......plus, they are usually hooked to hug the profile of downpipe/gutter.
I don't recon that its part of wieghing scales - too roughly made, not symmetrical enough, no connecting eyes for weighing pans ...plus the fact that two were found at the same site.

slowburner

If we knew what the purpose of the shed was, we would be able to make a more educated guess. As it stands, this piece of iron could have fulfilled a multitude of tasks.
18th/19th c outbuildings were filled with all sorts of ironmongery. Often they were made very locally, and fulfilled the unique needs of a neighbour. So these objects might not fall into any recognisable class. They are outside the world of mass production and intrinsically valuable because of it.
But, without context, they are just lumps of forged iron.

jeamimus

slowburner wrote: »

If we knew what the purpose of the shed was, we would be able to make a more educated guess..

I dont know, it was used for cows but I have have no idea if this was its original purpose. It was on the griffith survey maps so it predates then at least.

They're not for scales as suggested above, they're too crude, would certainly be blacksmith made.

Poor Uncle Tom

It resembles an early bale tie. Although I have never seen one exactly like that, I have seen them crooked bars and rings. Used when each cow had a halter rope before the later sliding head bales of the later, larger byres.

The spike end would be driven home into a piece of grounds timber set in the wall and the halter would be tied off to the tee section.

jeamimus

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

It resembles an early bale tie. Although I have never seen one exactly like that, I have seen them crooked bars and rings. Used when each cow had a halter rope before the later sliding head bales of the later, larger byres.

The spike end would be driven home into a piece of grounds timber set in the wall and the halter would be tied off to the tee section.

This suggestion does make sense. I could see them being used like this.