Chats on Old Copper and Brass

by Fred. W. Burgess

Kitchen utensils and domestic appliances which the housewife of olden time deemed necessary are of peculiar interest in that they help us to recall the habits and customs of former generations. It is not always easy to arrange a model kitchen in that there are many old utensils of copper and brass which must have been used side by side as periods overlapped, although some have a much older origin than others. It is said that the kitchens of well-stocked old family mansions still yield some curios when thoroughly examined, and that it is not at all an uncommon thing to find there utensils the object of which has almost been forgotten. They are relics of an older day, and utensils which a modern cook would not deign to use. Such discoveries, however, are few and far between, for the melting-pot and the cupidity of those anxious to clear unnecessary encumbrances and perhaps make a little towards refurnishing, has left but few objects of interest in the kitchen. It is, however, there and in the old houseplace that we may look for something of interest. Some will go on using old vessels long after newer utensils have taken their place in the more advanced households, and there are some cooks who use successfully saucepans and kettles of almost antique pattern which the student of the cook's art in the modern schools of cookery would find difficult to manipulate. They have been taught how to make tasty dishes with aluminium vessels and enamelled pans, whereas heavy and clumsy brass and copper utensils served their grandparents. The cook's art is appreciated to-day as it was in the past, and at all periods the domestic workshop has been surrounded with a halo of romance. Shakespeare has rendered the caldron of olden time memorable in "Macbeth." Of the caldron boiling in the dark cave he makes the witches cry:

"Double, double toil and trouble,

Fire, burn; and caldron bubble."

FIG. 24.—BRONZE CALDRON.
(In Trinity Hospital, Leicester.)

The cooking-pot is the sustainer of life, in that it gives strength to the weary and to the starving. To the poor dumb creatures, however, it is the end of life, and in savagery human life has been sacrificed to the gluttony of fellow-men. Wonderful stories are at times told of great feasts and of the magnificence of the kitchens of olden time, where the vessels and the cooking-pots were of extravagant size, making up, perhaps, for the fewer culinary utensils, for in early days the furnishings of the kitchen were few in number although massive and strong. Many of the baronial halls of the Middle Ages, and the homes of wealthy landowners in more recent days, have been the scene of great feasts. Merrie England rejoiced on such occasions when the roasting-jack and the spit contributed to the success of the feast, and the caldron or cooking-pot boiled upon the open hearth. In some old kitchens there are preserved ponderous bronze and copper pots, some so large that we can scarcely imagine that they were made for actual use. In the hall of Trinity Hospital at Leicester there is preserved a large caldron of bell metal, holding upwards of sixty gallons, which has been used as the cooking-pot of the institution from its foundation until quite recent times. This quaint old relic, now venerated as a curio, is locally called the Duke of Lancaster's porridge-pot, for it is said that it was made to the order of Henry, Duke of Lancaster, in 1331 (see Fig. 24). Not far removed from the corner where the old metal pot is shown to visitors there is a massive nutmeg-grater, a kitchen relic of olden time, which on the occasion of one of her visits to Leicester Queen Elizabeth presented to the hospital. Many old castles have relics of the feast to show visitors, and others no doubt could produce equally interesting examples of the coppersmiths' or the founders' art were they to search the vaults and cellars where disused metal-work was in years gone by stowed away. Visitors to Warwick Castle are familiar with "Guy's punchbowl," the remarkable metal caldron which is nearly twice the size of that attributed to the Duke of Lancaster, for it weighs, along with a fork said to have been used to handle the meat, 807 lb.

Most of these old vessels were cast, but some copper-work was hammered by hand, and those which have been preserved to us testify to the brawny arm of the smith and the strength of his blow when by hammer and hand he wrought them. Such copper caldrons were often made in two or more parts, and having been shaped on the block, were afterwards riveted together. It is puzzling at times to understand local and trade terms in that they frequently differ from the commonly accepted names of cooking vessels. Thus, these wrought caldrons or pots were frequently designated tripod kettles. A very fine example of such a wrought copper kettle was recovered a short time ago from Whittlesey Mere and is now in the Peterborough Museum. A century or more ago the Mere was famous in Huntingdonshire and many water parties were held there. The kettle recently found is thought to have been a relic of those events, and to have been used on the margin of the lake.

The fine caldron of cast brass illustrated in Fig. 27 was found during excavations in Water Lane, in London. It is peculiar in that it has two-eared handles and projecting feet. It is very substantial, and may be regarded as typical of the early metal caldrons, several of which have been found in London. Another cooking vessel, smaller in size, having a curved handle and being in good preservation, a domestic relic of the seventeenth century, which was dug up in Milton Street, Cripplegate, is illustrated in Fig. 28.