Y is for Yoke – that is what Y is for ...

A tradesman delivering goods with a yoke
at the turn of the 1900s

When I looked I got directed to the beast of burden – the ox ... but the frame of wood – the yoke – early on had been used by man as a carrying frame.  The lightweight willow yoke fits across the shoulders, transferring the weight from the arms to the shoulders, making it easier to carry than by hand, as it keeps the containers away from the legs.

These pieces of rural farming equipment would have been essential in the fields, woods, or even on the sea shore ... the containers carrying milk pails or possibly maple syrup buckets in North America, and through the centuries adapted to each ‘modern’ way of life.

The early containers would have hung from twine or rope, then chain metal became available and would have made stronger fixings ... the baskets too changed over time – willow baskets of various shapes, hide buckets, before metal (tin) pails came into being.

Lovingly and beautifully hand planed, carved wooden yokes – giving the family a thing of beauty to be treasured, by caring for the wood, for its many years of work ahead ... each pair of containers appropriate to the job at hand .. .

... seed containers, fruit or vegetable ones, fish baskets, delivery baskets, milk, water, or used in industry ... hoisting coal, rubble and minerals ... even livestock and small animals transported along the highways and byways of the land.

Milkmaid's Yoke from Easdale Island Folk Museum, Oban Argyle

These yokes with their containers were man’s workhorse for the many tasks that life demanded for centuries ... smaller jobs, specialised jobs that were more appropriate to be done by hand through the use of these ‘hanging baskets’.

The yoke would be approximately 40” across, sitting on the shoulders, with a cut-out for the back of the neck, permitting heavier loads to be carried with less chance of spillage.

In an age where “time is money” ... there is now no longer a place for something that was labour intensive and long lasting ... perhaps the “milkmaid’s yoke” is now only of historical interest ... we do have the wheel ... but it’s good to remember!

This is a Yoke  –  that is what Y is for ..

Part of the ABC - April 2011 - A - Z Challenge - Aspects of the British Countryside

Milkmaid's Yoke from Easdale Island Folk Museum

Hilary Melton-Butcher

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PS .. I'll be Wedding Watching today .. back tomorrow ...  Cheers!!