Crofting implements

Crofting implements

ID: QZP99_93154_10_01 DESCRIPTION: Calum and Catherine Paterson with threshing implements. Threshing, or thrashing, the corn meant separating the grain and seeds from the straw. This was done by hand using a tool called a 'flail'. The flail was made of two pieces of hard wood, about four feet in length and loosely tied together. The straw would be removed and the grain collected for grinding into flour. Threshing was usually done inside a barn but it could take place outside if the weather was good enough. A Scottish engineer, Andrew Meikle, invented a threshing machine around 1790 but the majority continued to thresh by hand for many years to come. This image comes from a collection gifted to Edinburgh Central Library by Dr Isabel F. Grant. The collection includes photographs taken by a number of different photographers. This image was taken by Margaret Fay Shaw and is part of the Margaret Fay Shaw Collection, Canna House, National Trust for Scotland PLACENAME: unidentified CREATOR (AV): Margaret Fay Shaw SOURCE: Edinburgh and Scottish Collection, Edinburgh Central Library COLLECTION: I F Grant Photographic Archive Asset ID: 38544 KEYWORDS: