By J. E. Housley

In transcribing wills and inventories of the 16th and 17th centuries, the research group of the Society are trying to establish a picture of the social life of the time in the parish of Warton, including Silverdale, the Yealands, Priest Hutton, Borwick and Carnforth.

The inhabitants were mostly husbandmen operating a thrift economy: nothing was wasted. The four honest men who came to value the possessions of the deceased included everything, from clothing to the dungheap in the yard. The main pieces of furniture to survive are chests and arks. In the homes of the wealthy, there was more finish and decoration in the furnishings, but in the working homes of an agricultural economy furnishings were simple. Arks and chests (‘chists’ or kists’ in our northern dialect) were highly prized possessions. Frequently we find them bequeathed in wills: ‘the great chest in the chamber where I lie’, or the chest to stay in the house ‘as an heirloom forever’.

The earliest form of the chest was dug out from a solid tree trunk, but from the 13th century they were constructed from planks fastened together with a flat lid, made to stand on the floor. Chests could be made from ash and elm, but almost all surviving examples (to be found in churches and museums) are made from oak. Oak was the most durable wood though hard to work, the trees having to be felled at the right season, the planks sawn by a vertical saw worked by two men – hence ’top sawyer’ – then immersed in a stream and later dried out. The chest was in use until the 18th century, serving for storage, a seat, or even a bed.

In English Furniture by John C. Rogers, there are explicit instructions on how to construct an early type chest, down to the wrought iron hinges and oak dowels, and on how to adapt it for use as a travelling trunk. In some instances, a simple chest was made in which the sides were carried lower than the back to form feet. The ark was an arcaded chest, a large receptacle of split timber, not sawn but hewn with an adze. It had a roof-shaped lid like a hutch or a bin. Originally of North Country origin, it was used mainly in the kitchen to store food, meal, grain and bread. It had wooden hinges as iron might taint the flour.

In addition to these treasured pieces, many households had bedstocks, a board and three-legged stools. The medieval term ‘board’ was synonymous with table, a flat wooden slab supported by a trestle or legs. The word ‘table’ meant the top only and was used as early as Chaucer’s time in the Canterbury Tales: Curteys he was, lowly and sensable And carf beforn his fader at the table. Seating at table was provided by long backless benches called ‘forms’ which also served as seating in church in this period. It is an interesting aspect of transcribing inventories to see the changes with the passage of time, hone households came to own cupboards, cushions were used on the hard wooden seats, and chairs with backs and armrests began to replace forms and stools.

Notes

Works consulted:

• J. C. Rogers, English Furniture.
• Marjorie Filbee, Dictionary of Country Furniture.
• Joy Woodall, From Hroca to Anne.
• J. Gloag, A Short Dictionary of Furniture

Published in Mourholme Magazine Issue 3 Spring 1983