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The Living History of Basketry
Author: Lynne Bullock Orders of the day, Volume 33, Issue 4, 2001 |
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Basket making, or the weaving together of pliant materials to form utensils for storing, carrying and measuring is one of those industries begun before recorded history, and has unknown origins. It has been claimed that basketry is the mother of pottery, and certainly in North America there is archaeological evidence that this is so. Crude baskets lined with a mixture of clay and sand which was then left to dry before careful removal provided one of the earliest forms of dish or bowl. Early man used simple baskets for the collection of food that later may have evolved into traps to catch animals and fish. Archaeology has also shown that wicker work was used for such diverse purposes as shelter, transport and protection. Early warriors had shields of wickerwork, sometimes covered in animal skin, and there is evidence of armour made from such materials as cane, bamboo, and coconut fibre. Screens/hurdles of wattle (split wood, usually hazel) were used for the protection and segregation of animals. Geography in early times played an important part in determining the type of baskets made. Materials used were locally available - willow, split wood, rush, roots, bark and grasses were used in colder countries, whilst cane, bamboo, palm leaf and fibres were used in warmer climates. In Northern Europe, including England, the majority of baskets were made from willow, with the first historical reference to willow growing coming from Pliny in AD 23-79. Several hundred varieties of osier (willow) have been grown over the centuries, often with curious names: ‘trustworthy’, ‘swallowtail’, ‘whisender’, ‘mealytop’ and ‘dicky meadowes’. Many of these consist of the species salix viminalis (common osier) which includes ‘black maul’ - frequently used by today's basketmaker (mucky to use, but very pliant and gives a nice finish when dry). Since Roman times, markets and fairs have been the means of internal trade throughout Britain and Europe. Weekly markets supplied townsfolk and country farmers and many continue to the present day. For centuries most if not all goods were carried to and from market in baskets and horse panniers. Basketmakers themselves also had stalls, and these outlets were important occasions in the their calendar. Almost every fruit or vegetable sold in England had its own type of basket. These also served as measures: for example, a bushel of apples, ‘bushel’ being the style of basket and also a measure of approximately 60lbs. Strawberries were sold by street vendors in ‘pottles’ made of strips of willow bark, another basket/weight combination. |
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Very little is known about basketmaking as an early industry, but by 1464 there were enough basketmakers in the City of London to have their own area in the parish of St. Margaret Pattens, although after a disastrous fire in 1528 the common council agreed that no basketmaker should dwell inside the city walls. In 1569 the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers was established by the court of Aldermen to meet every two years and elect two wardens. Control was given to the Company over the basket output of the whole of England, with the control falling into disuse around the late 1700s. Unfortunately the chest containing records such as the minute books and the silver spoons traditionally given to successful apprentices by the Company was burnt in the Great Fire of 1666. Although from the 13th century larger towns and cities had their own guilds of basketmakers, wandering gypsies made and sold baskets, as did travelling basketmakers. These mainly served the more remote or less populated areas. Crates and hampers made from English willow came in all shapes and sizes and were used for a huge variety of purposes. Poultry was carried to and from market or from farm to farm in crated baskets, the shapes varying from round and tall to rectangular and shallow, with the most interesting one being the ose or hen basket. Cider jars covered in wicker are known from as far back as the 1600s at least, and a common basket in use from the 12th until the early 20th centuries was the ‘frail’ or ‘flail’. This type was made from lengths of rush stitched together and was used for carrying tools or the workman's midday meal. Another old name for this basket was the flag basket, probably because it could also be made from the leaves of the wild iris or flag. |
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Many baskets were used in agriculture and one, shown on manuscripts from the 10th to the 15th centuries, (and it doesn't take a great deal of imagination to chase it into the 17th century,) is the ‘seedlip’, also known as the seed hopper. Used in broadcast sowing, which was practised until around the end of the 18th century when mechanised methods slowly took over, the seedlip was slung around the neck with the seed being cast around in an arc as the sower slowly walked up and down. The house and farm accounts of the Shuttleworths of Garthorpe Hall 1582-1621 give examples of personal domestic baskets: “a basket to lay linen or clothes in for my Lady, a little hand pannier to carry chickens and wildfowl. Sweetmeat baskets to hold a dessert for the entertainment of fraternities and societies, the most delicate comfits being placed at the top of the baskets”. The baskets had lids “because a person eats only the liquid sweetmeats and shuts up and takes away his basket to carry home.” |
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In the 10th century Archbishop Aelfric's vocabulary lists several baskets, including ones for fruit, wool and the straining of wine. In about 1178 Alexander of Necham wrote that a peasant should have many kinds, including a special one for pressing cheese. John de Garlande in 1250 wrote that the ploughman repaired the baskets, showing that they were a valued as well as a useful everyday commodity. On tithe maps of the 19th century farms were often shown with a small ‘plat’ or bed of willows, showing that in the intervening time, spanning our own 17th century, that this was still the case. There is little pictorial evidence of baskets during the 17th century, however Wenceslas Hollar (1607-1677, born in Prague, but living in London) produced a series of country scenes showing fowl cages, fish traps, bushel and hand baskets. They are all so faithfully depicted that the modern basketmaker can easily reproduce them for use in 17th century re-enactment just through visual reference alone. Bread baskets also came in different sizes with the large ‘footed’ ones made of fine willow, used for the daily bulk storage of bread in larger households. Willow or rush was also used for log baskets in the 17th century, (many poorer households burnt wood or peat, as coal was an expensive commodity). Scottish peat kishies, spale baskets, Yarmouth herring swills and Sussex trugs are a few of the baskets known to have existed in the 17th century; today's basketmakers can reproduce them fairly easily using traditional methods and Somerset willow. Baskets could also be used in times of conflict. From medieval times gun emplacements were made of coarse baskets filled with earth or turf (gabions) and continued until the use of sandbags at the end of the 19th century. It seems a shame that basketmaking has now been relegated largely to an almost forgotten craft, although in small areas of the country this craft, once a way of life, is still used in the making of kitchen baskets. In one area of Leicestershire, for example, these are still made from traditional English willow.  References
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