The Bullroarer Atlas

MUS2026-172 - museum specimen

English folk / St Ives

United Kingdom - Cambridgeshire - St Ives - Europe

Function not recorded

The corded, saw-edged member of the St Ives pair, Pitt Rivers Museum 1902.51.4.
The corded, saw-edged member of the St Ives pair, Pitt Rivers Museum 1902.51.4. Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (1902.51.4) Image source
The broad plain member of the St Ives pair, Pitt Rivers Museum 1902.51.3.
The broad plain member of the St Ives pair, Pitt Rivers Museum 1902.51.3. Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (1902.51.3) Image source

Bull roarer / Buzzer English

Source term: Bullroarer

Bull roarer / Buzzer: the two museum-recorded names for the St Ives pair

St Ives preserved two styles side by side: a broad plain board and a narrow saw-edged blade with its cord still coiled beside it. Their blunt English names were Bull roarer and Buzzer.

Long wooden 'Bullroarer' with small serrations.

Pitt Rivers Museum 1902.51.4
Object
Two carved wooden terminal-hole slats: one plain oblong blade, 217 x 60 mm, and one serrated blade, 197 x 36 mm, retaining its cord; exact PRM photographs.
Function
Function not recorded.
Map confidence
high - OpenStreetMap St Ives town anchor matching the museum provenance; not a documented use site.
Source location
PRM 1902.51.3-.4

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