Carpet beaters

There is a collection of ten of these Victorian carpet beaters on a wall in 'my' present house, each one different in its design, all of them made of cane.

Gone are the days when carpets and rugs had to be hauled outside and draped over the washing-line before receiving a thorough beating to get rid of all the dust. What an onerous task that must have been!

Thank goodness for the invention of the vacuum cleaner, though no doubt it was a great way of letting off steam too!