Browse Items (13 total)

These dolls are thought to date from the 1880s. Before the Victorian period, brown was the most popular eye colour for dolls but this changed to blue, inspired by the colour of the Queen’s eyes.

Before sugar cubes and granulated sugar were introduced at the end of the nineteenth century, sugar was bought as a cone or ‘sugarloaf’. Sugar nippers were used to break pieces off the cone.

A goffering iron, often known as an Italian or Tally iron, was used for frilled cuffs and ruffles. The tube was heated by inserting a hot metal poker-like rod. The frilled cuffs and collars would then be curled around the cylinder, smoothing them…

These spectacles are thought to date from the eighteenth century. In October 1709 The Tatler reported ‘About five years ago it was the Fashion to be short sighted’ but ‘that Mode of Infirmity is out, and the age has recover’d its sight: but the Blind…

This helmet belonged to an Air Raid Precaution Warden for Sale. The first consignment of specialist ARP fire-fighting equipment was received in Sale as early as September 1938.

The Scold’s Bridle was a form of punishment reserved only for women, and was designed to stop those who were deemed verbally unruly. The flat piece of metal or the ‘gag’ went into the woman’s mouth and the bridle was fastened at the back. From the…

Skirt lifters were used by Victorian ladies to stop their skirts from dragging in the dirt, or to allow for extra movement during physical activities, such as cycling or tennis. Although they were already in existence, skirt lifters became…

The Linotype machine had revolutionised the way that newspapers printed, creating a ‘line-o-type’ by moulding hot metal. The Linotype Company opened its factory to produce the machines at the end of the nineteenth century, when the Broadheath…

Stretford Memorial Hospital was opened on 28 October 1914, with twenty beds, by the Old Trafford Divisional Committee of the Red Cross Hospital Society, as an auxiliary hospital to the Second Western General. It was enlarged from time to time as the…

The stamp was manufactured by Shaw & Sons Ltd, London. It would have been used by council workers to emboss the words ‘ALTRINCHAM CORPORATION’ onto papers, marking them as official council documents.