Record ID: BERK-8DD525
Object type: TOY
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Oxfordshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
A cast lead alloy shy-cock toy dating to the 18th century AD. The shy-cock is single-sided with moulded decoration indicating tail and body feathers and a crude beak and eye. The reverse is plain and undecorated. It sits on a small subcircular base enabling to stand. Shy-cocks may have derived from the Shrove Tuesday pursuit of casting stones or cudgels at a live cockerel which was either tied down or buried up to its neck in the ground (Forsyth & Egan 2005: 239). By the later post-medieval period this barbaric custom had generally been replaced by toys such as these.
Created on: Tuesday 4th November 2014
Last updated: Friday 14th November 2014
Spatial data recorded.