rough adze
Object Detail
Object Name
adze
Description
A rough adze tool, used by the boatbuilder Joseph Hewitt on the Thames in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Joseph Hewitt, grandfather of Cecil Hewitt, was an apprentice boatbuilder at the age of fifteen in c1875. Based in Mapledurham and Reading, building Thames barges or 'Lighters'. 'Lighters' took three years to make and weighed 150 tonnes. It took four men, each with an apprentice, to build one boat from oak because they were completely hand-built.
Accession No
1996.20.28
Collection
River Thames
Associated Person
Associated Date
1875
Associated Period
19th century