Name/TitleColour Print
About this objectThis print depicts 'A Turnspit in an Inn Kitchen, Late 18th. C.' and shows a woman dressed in white, sitting by a fire watching meat roasting on a mechanically driven spit. There are benches of men and women sitting to the right.
Richard Hall, Volunteer Researcher:
This print depicts the roasting of meat on a spit in the 18th century.
Several items of meat are shown in image which point of the importance of meat in the diet at that time. Whilst meat had gradually become an everyday staple for rich and poor alike, there still existed a great divide in both the range and quality of meat available to each.
The country inn was a stopover point for many travellers at a time when longer journeys might take several days to complete. Inns offered a variety of food drink and simple accommodation for the weary traveller.
In larger properties, roasting meat using a spit was the easiest way of roasting large volumes of meat. However, the earliest spits had to be turned by hand, a hot and laborious job often given to the lowliest kitchen boy. From Tudor time’s mechanical spits became popular, powered by a small dog running in a treadmill. For many people however, the only way to roast joints of meat was by using the oven of a local baker.
By the 19th century, kitchen ranges became popular and provided a ready solution for most families everyday cooking and heating needs. The old kitchen range, has shaped the way we continue to roast our Sunday joint today.
MakerMacmillan Education Ltd.
Maker Roleprinter + publisher
Periodcirca 1940-1960
Medium and MaterialsPrint, paper
Inscription and MarksThe bottom centre inscription reads: 'A Turnspit in an Inn Kitchen, Late 18th. C.'
A further inscription at the bottom left reads: 'Macmillan's History Pictures.'
MeasurementsHeight/B: 432mm
Width/L: 534mm
Object Typeprint
Object numberSTMEA:1989-4.326
Copyright Licence
Attribution - Non-commercial (cc)
