Touch Burners on Wincobank Hill

[johnpm]

IN my part of Sheffield (Page Hall) we all  made touch burners  in the late 40's & early 50's from clay found on stream edges in Firth Park near the Library.  I now live at Guisborough North Yorkshire & no one up here has heard of them.

[Blackburnrod]

In 1942 I lived on Langsett Avenue and gathered clay from grave diggings in Wadsley Churchyard to make my touch burner which was fuelled by cotton rags. We had a house cleaner called Mrs Hague during my mother's pregnancy with my sister and her husband who worked in a brickworks made me a brick touchburner complete with a working chimney.

[Runningman]

A big favour please from you folks talking about Touch Burners. I am doing some research into their origin.

They were obviously from reading this thread,  made in various areas of Sheffield.

What I would like you to do is to make contact with a relation or friend who was born and raised in another part of the country.

Question them about Touch Burners, do they know what your are talking about, how did they make and use them.

 

All responses please via private message !

[trastrick]

Touch burners have an ancient origin. They also had an important function for early man.

 

Before we had matches, they were the containers used to carry fire from place to place, as tribes wandered and hunted and gathered.

 

They were containers designed to carry important essential commodity, fire!

 

And like water, oil and and food containers, were both artfully and functionally designed.

 

The lore of making them was passed down through generations, to us kids, like bows and arrows, fishing poles, staffs, whips, clubs, cudgels, and spears.

 

We made all these as kids from river banks and local woods, and we are probably the last generation to do so in the civilized world.

Edited August 22, 2020 by trastrick

[Runningman]

4 hours ago, trastrick said:

Touch burners have an ancient origin. They also had an important function for early man.

 

Before we had matches, they were the containers used to carry fire from place to place, as tribes wandered and hunted and gathered.

 

They were containers designed to carry important essential commodity, fire!

 

And like water, oil and and food containers, were both artfully and functionally designed.

 

The lore of making them was passed down through generations, to us kids, like bows and arrows, fishing poles, staffs, whips, clubs, cudgels, and spears.

 

We made all these as kids from river banks and local woods, and we are probably the last generation to do so in the civilized world.

Good comment trastrick, fascinating subject, looking forward to some pm's re whether or not folks in other parts of the UK have heard of them.

[Runningman]

I have recently attempted some research, that is contacting family and friends who when they were children in Bolsover, Northampton, Kent, Hull, Cannock and London to enquire if any of them had experience of using Touch Burners.

The reply from them all was no !

Does that lead me to the assumption that they were unique to Sheffield ? 

[chriswilmot]

I lived in Blackburn ,we used to make touch wood burners from clay from the banks of the stream and burn touch wood from dead trees.We just sat there when lit and watched them for hours in the early sixties,happy days.Anybody remember Bobby arrows?

[Kidorry]

I remember the handwarmers. One winter I took one to school to keep warm but the teacher took it off me, but he gave it back to me when we went home. I also did the bull roarers, stuffing paper up a drain pipe lighting it and listening to the noise it it echoed up the pipe, and, being prepared to run should  the resident who lived there saw you. We ran but it was not of any use because the bush telegraph in those days could match the K.G.B.

[chriswilmot]

Touch wood burners

[Runningman]

Hi chriswilmot. Search this forum, I posted about touch burners a while ago, have you anything to add ?