Name/TitleFabric fragment
About this objectThis fragment is part of the second concealed cache found by the Harbers in their Lawshall home. The piece appears to have been part of a garment that was deliberately cut from its original form. It is not currently possible to determine the type of garment it was part of, due to its size and poor condition. The Textile Conservation Centre intends to conduct further research to try and determine the type of garment.
The piece is composed of three layers; a top layer of plain weave, brown silk, an interlining of white cardboard and a plain weave, white cotton, lining. The layers have been shaped and hand stitched using a brown cotton thread. The stitches are large and no attempt has been made to conceal them.
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This Cache represents the second group of concealed artefacts that Mr and Mrs Harber found at their property in Lawshall, Suffolk. The house was originally a farm dwelling and is thought to date from between 1520 and 1550.
Paula Harber discovered the cache in 2001, when cleaning out dust and dirt from the side of the ground floor chimney stack, on the north side of the building. Over a period of three hours she discovered ten objects; six fragments of fabric, a row of pewter buttons on a coat edge, a leather shoe, part of a wooden patten and a piece of moulded oak timber beading.
The objects from the two caches found in the Harber's home are kept together in a box. The Harbers run courses on the care and repair of timber-framed buildings from their home and use the two caches to demonstrate the type of object people may find concealed in buildings. For more information about the courses run by the Harbers send an e-mail to: [email protected]
Medium and Materialssilk (textile)
cotton (textile)
cardboard -pasteboard -paper (fiber product)
CollectionLawshall Cache 2
Object TypeConcealed Garments
Object numberCG12.f