This month’s Item of the Month has been chosen by the Society’s Archivist – Maureen Scott.
Opening an archive box whilst cataloguing our collection surprisingly revealed two bones – one larger than the other. However, upon inspection there was something a bit different about them – they both have a small hole drilled into the ends. The larger bone has unfortunately been broken and is missing most of one end, but the smaller bone has those drilled holes at both ends.
Whilst the bones are probably those of a cow or pig, they’ve been re-used as ice skates!
The holes would be where the skaters used rope or leather to tie them to their feet. This style of ice skate is believed to have come into use around 1,000 years ago. Bone skates found in London were dated to the 12th Century. These two bone skates though, have not been dated, and may be much later.
We have many items related to ice skating, and fen skating around the Littleport area. We are busily cataloguing those, but you can check our collection online.
We also have a collection of items in our shop:
Latest acquisitions
Amongst our latest acquisitions, we have also received:
- Hope Brothers Ltd bow tie – ‘A Prince bow’
- Victorian Cabinet Card photograph of an unidentified woman by D. R. Spencely of Littleport
- Primitive Methodist Centenary (1807-1907) commemorative plate
- Colourised and framed portrait of ‘Auntie Doll’
