Hat Plait

Everything straw plaiting

[Hat Plait @HatPlait]

@natureHB @WoodlandersL @ChilternsCCC @HeritageFundUK @ChilternsAONB No it was not. Sadly that's is an incorrect information panel at COAM.
Yes there was an Aylesbury prune or plum grown locally. Brilliant that COAM are growing the trees.
No it was not used to dye straw hats. Mary Farnell wrote a comprehensive article disproving this folk tale.

[Hat Plait @HatPlait]

@BucksArchives I have managed to find a little more information.
The original image is marked Straw Plaiting.
It was taken by WH Cox a photographer in Luton.
Information at Luton Museum lists the image as taken at Barton. 1900.
It was sold as a postcard.
There is a second view of the scene.

[Hat Plait @HatPlait]

@CheshamBoisPari @BucksArchives There are a few variations of this tale. I think the late John Mayes (Historian, High Wycombe) used to quote them in his talks.
Yes, the plaiters put the split straws through their mouths to damp them, also to help the double splints stick together for improved plait.

[Hat Plait @HatPlait]

@BucksArchives @LizJRudd Making straw plait does not create straw over the floor. At least not in the plaiting process only in the later clipping of the finished length of plait. Straw cost money, it wasn't wasted!

[Hat Plait @HatPlait]

@WoodlandersL @BucksArchives She is plaiting straw. Look carefully at her fingers, you can see the straw ends. The positioning of her fingers is correct for plaiting. On the length of plait you can see the joined ends. How the plait coils is correct.
Not skep making or rick finial making or crochet/tatting.