Chopping Block

Unknown

early 1800s

Ash

Height: 62 cm

Initially identified as a butcher’s block, this would have been used in a country house kitchen, or as a base for chopping kindling. The square hole was probably for holding a post which had a shoe ‘last’ on it – a wooden form used for moulding a shoe. Later in its history the block was recycled as a candleholder: hence the wax deposits.