Nowadays we roast more conveniently by hanging the joint Thomas Rowlandson, A Dog Turnspit in a Kitchen at Newcastle Emlyn, South Wales. Long bodied dogs, something the shape of a dachshund. The dog worked inside the wheel, whose flooring Was conveyed to the dog wheel fixed at some convenient height against Wheel was larger, pointing to its having been used in the older days when The chain that connected it with the jack. In thisĬase the spit had a circular disk at one end, the edge grooved to take Whose power was derived from the draught in the chimney. Sometimes the spit was worked by a smoke-jack, a piece of mechanism Plain, but usually with the fronts of tlie projections handsomely moulded. Her spits bright, and they showed finely when displayed in the spitrack It was the pride of the good housewife to keep Hooks were more frequently and more conveniently fixed to the back of theĭogs, nearer to the fire. Loops these would bring the spit to the front of the dogs. The illustration of the basket or cardle sspit immediately above shows one with movable Many other forms of tall-fronted dogs there was often an arrangement for But in some farmhouses,Īnd even cottages, there were the tall-fronted cup dogs, with the topsįramed in such a way as to hold a mug of hot drink. Rolling out forwards and there were two loose iron bars that could beĪdjusted on the dogs so as to hold a cooking pot. Of low shape so as not to interfere with the swinging pot the uprightįront being only high enough to stop a log of reasonable thickness from Right: Cup-dog for warming drinks.Ī simple form of iron firedog was in use in every cottage, generally Or even a whole tree with leafy branches and scroll tendrils. Twists of the square sectioned iron bar, or a little spray of leaf and flower, Which, after doing their constructional work, were drawn out intoĬurls or volutes with more or less closed ends, or it may be some ornamental Sometimes it is only in the line or play of the different straps and stays Of invention, taste and skill in various methods of enrichment. The necessities of its use, and the smith then exercised his own powers

The main part of the structure was determined by Top and bottom that it can swing forward like a gate. Main vertical iron, the backbone of the whole concern, is so held at Lowering the hook that holds the pot or kettle. Itself one to swing forward and back, and the other for raising or The height of the pot adjusted by a short hanger at any point along theīar, and the other in which there are two movements of the crane The horizontal bar was simply supported by a diagonal stay and Some contrivance for meeting this alternative wasīy the chimney crane or pot crane this was of two forms, one in which One point or another of its area might be the more convenient place for The fire was large and wide spread so that In farms and the better class of houses something more than the Two Cranes, one from Pembrokeshire, the other from Glamorganshire. Through, showing a silhouette of the smith at work, with With elaborate scroll work and the lower part is pierced The loop that catches in the ratchet is decorated Of a highly ornamented hanger is in the Victoria and Albert Ratchet with the upright bar (see 'A' below). Of the end of the iron that connected the upper part of the Hangers have an ornament at the top, usually a fleur-de-lys, or it might be a kind of lance head, or only a close curl Hazel rope, hung over the fire (at right). Was the wooden 'crochan,' by which the pot, slung from above by a High or low, according to the liveliness of the fire or theĭegree of heat required for the cooking. Knob, from which hung the hook that caught one of the The lowest end of the upright had either a closed loop or a Sheet-iron ratchet attachment looking like a coarse saw. The curved top end of the hanger, an iron bar with a flat Of oak, or preferably, of chestnut in section higher than Stretching across, the ends let into the masonry. It could either stand in the hotĪshes on its three short legs or hang by the swinging handle, the chimney was the wooden chimney bar, In the simplest cottages the usual cooking utensil was the Parings of peaty soils containing tufts of heath and gorse. Places, there was no true peat for the alternative fuel. It was equally suitable where, in some remote moorland The wide 'down' hearth was commonly used both for cookingĪnd warming. WHEN wood was the only fuel, except peat, in country districts,

British fire dogs