Any idea?

[Dishmop]

I think it's a 'Gypsy pot' - it would have originally had a three legged stand with a circular hoop at the top and the pot sat with the recessed bottom part in the circular hoop with a fire lit below the pot to boil water. There may have originally been a hooped handle on the top and lugs under the rim could well have been there to secure a lid for travelling.

So .. a sort of mobile version of a copper .. let's face it ... even travellers had to wash their sheets occasionally !

and it they had filled it with water and the sheets, clipped the lid on the movement of the van when travelling would agitate the washing... one step back from wishy washy paddle asction.... and unlike the gentry they didnt have servants to p*** in the washing to starch it..

 

[Teemore]

Looks similar to one of the old cast iron boilers, the sort that were set in a brick/stone surround, with the fire place underneath, used for boiling cloths or even used for cooking animal feed occasionally.

I agree with Hivemaker - the mesh sided trailer it is sitting in/on in one of the pictures gives some indication of scale. In my neck of the woods they tend to be referred to as potato boilers - they were used to boil up feed for (mainly) pigs but as with most things, they served many different purposes in their time. We have two at home that would be at least 2 foot in diameter and now feature as garden ornaments. One was used to slake lime at some point in its distant past.

 

[Red Bee]

Thanks for your help identifying the pot. Bit of a mystery at the start!

 

[For want of a better word]

Obviously they are metal Skeps.. as used in the windier parts of Cornwall... Bodmin Moor etc!

Yeghes da

 

[Teemore]

Obviously they are metal Skeps.. as used in the windier parts of Cornwall... Bodmin Moor etc!

Yeghes da

Now theres an idea....

 

[MikeT]

I think it could be the steel lining of the Victorian boiler which was installed in terraced houses. I can remember my father removing one from the kitchen in the early 50s. It consisted of a brick fireplace with the steel pan above. Uses to heat the water for cloths washing and the old tin bath

 

[MikeT]

These were known as the "copper" as they were mainly made of copper in the richer houses but the poorer homes had them made of cast iron or steel. See pictures.

Mike