Chalton Shuttle

There is a line drawing of a shuttle on page 36 of Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England. AD 450-700 by Walton Rogers described as "a bone band-weaver's shuttle, around which the weft would have been wound, from a 7th century settlement at Charlton, Hampshire".

There was some effort a few years ago on the SCA-Card-Weaving list to track down the original object, but details surrounding the 1970s dig seem to be lost to the mists of time.

At Canterbury Faire earlier this month, I had a discussion with a gentle I hadn't met before about this picture. He was a woodworker and spent quite a bit of time over the event working in our encampment, where we had various crafty things going on. Near the end of the event, I came back from somewhere or other to find the below item beside my loom. I didn't see him again to thank him! It's things like this that make Canterbury Faire really special.

This shuttle is wood rather than bone. It is about 10cm long. The flat edge can double as a beater (although the item does not have a lot of heft to it). I have not had a chance to use it yet.

Comments

  1. SingingdragonMay 14, 2020 at 12:20 PM

    The full name of the Author of that book Is Penelope Walton Rogers.

    ReplyDelete

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