The Bullroarer Atlas

MUS2026-119 - museum specimen

English folk bullroarer, Suffolk (Lovett collection, NMAH)

United Kingdom - Suffolk, England - Europe - British Isles

Play / practical

Bungay bullroarer cut from recycled wood, with its terminal cord, Pitt Rivers Museum 1894.42.1.
Bungay bullroarer cut from recycled wood, with its terminal cord, Pitt Rivers Museum 1894.42.1. Image source
Wooden bull roarer from Suffolk, England, collected by folklorist Edward Lovett — National Museum of American History DL.211913.
Wooden bull roarer from Suffolk, England, collected by folklorist Edward Lovett — National Museum of American History DL.211913. Image source
The Suffolk woozer: a palm-sized blade sawn into deep teeth along both edges, its cord still coiled (PRM 1902.16.1).
The Suffolk woozer: a palm-sized blade sawn into deep teeth along both edges, its cord still coiled (PRM 1902.16.1). Image source

woozer English

Source term: bull-roarer

PRM 1902.16.1 records the Suffolk name 'Woozer' for its deeply side-notched blade (Balfour, 1902).

While Victorian anthropologists compared the secret bullroarers of Australia and New Guinea, the same instrument still rattled through English childhood. This Suffolk example is a six-and-a-half-inch wooden blade with its rope wound neatly around it, ready to be carried in a pocket and unwound for play.

Object
English folk bullroarers from Suffolk: NMAH DL.211913 and PRM 1894.42.1 from Bungay, a notched recycled-wood slat with terminal cord.
Function
English children’s folk toy.
Map confidence
medium - Suffolk county-level anchor; no parish recorded
Source location
Page references

NMAH DL.211913; PRM 1894.42.1; Pitt Rivers 1894 annual report

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