Name/TitlePair of butter hands

About this objectThese were used by the donor's parents, William Green Munnings (brother of Alfred Munnings) and Mary Munnings, in the early 20th century until 1916, at Ketts Farm, Mendham. There are holes in the handle for suspension. The Munnings gave up buttermaking when they started selling milk wholesale on October 1st, 1916. Previously they had several private customers for butter and also sold butter to the shop at Mendham.

Richard Hall, Research Volunteer:
Butter hands are called by various names, depending on which part of the country they were being used. You might hear of them being called: “Scotch hands”, “Butter beaters”, “Butter hands”, “Butter workers” or “Butter pats” . Nevertheless, they all serve the same purpose which is to mould and shape the butter after it has been churned. Our butter hands are all wooden and probably made from Sycamore wood, which is popular for making wooden kitchen utensils because it is very close grained and doesn’t easily stain. Our Butter hands are ribbed on one side and flat on the other. The ribbed side was used to help remove any residual buttermilk while the butter was mixed and pressed into shape. The smooth side gave the butter its final shape.

Butter is usually made from cows’ milk, although it is possible to use milk from goats as well. Mary Taylor produced a very interesting blog piece about making butter on the farm in 2013 in which she tells us that after the cream had been separated from the milk, it was put into a butter churn and turned until “it made a thumping noise”. At this point, she knew that the cream had turned to butter.

Medium and MaterialsMade of sycamore wood.

Measurementsan overall length of 26.5cms, and a width of 7.5cms.

Object Typebutter pat

Object numberSTMEA:76.A.79.9(a-b)

Copyright LicenceAttribution - Non-commercial (cc)