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Interior Turnspit in museum. Digital image of PB 593.

SC 760045

Description Interior Turnspit in museum. Digital image of PB 593.

Date 1963

Catalogue Number SC 760045

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of PB 593

Scope and Content Turnspit in museum, Traquair House, Scottish Borders This shows part of an early 19th-century turnspit mechanism which would be mounted onto the wall above the kitchen fire. The grooved wooden drum (top right) would have a rod and chains attached which would transfer energy down to the spit below. It would be turned by a fan in the chimney above the fire, or by turning a handle next to the fire. A spit is a metal rod onto which is threaded a large piece of meat so it may be cooked before an open fire. Smaller items like gamebirds or joints would be contained within an iron cage so they did not break up during cooking. Turning the spit was tedious work, and various devices were invented to power the mechanism using dog wheels, clockwork mechanisms, and fans powered by rising heat called smoke vanes. Traquair is the oldest continually inhabited house in Scotland, with its origins in the 10th century. It was the site of a royal hunting lodge in the 1200s, but the house as seen today is based around a c.1512 tower-house with many later additions. The flanking service wings were built in 1695 to designs by architect James Smith (c.1645-1731), who also designed the wrought-iron screens round the courtyard in 1698. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/760045

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap

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