Description (Labels & Markings)
A handwritten label affixed to the object with string reads: 'Mole trap from Mrs Alice Parker. Bewdley Worcestershire. 20 July 1938.'
Event Date
Author: David Kay

Context (Field collection)
Label affixed to label notes: 'Mrs Alice Parker. Bewdley Worcestershire. 20 July 1938.'
Event Date 1938
Author: David Kay

Context (References)
cf: The Guild of British Molecatchers (2019) Mole traps - Ancient and modern. https://www.guildofbritishmolecatchers.co.uk/?p=mole.traps.ancient.modern (last accessed: 20/03/2019)
Event Date 2019
Author: David Kay

Context (Field collection)
Homemade traps such as this were commonly used by professional molecatchers in the nineteenth century, being both cheap to make and easy set in place within the mole's subterranean tunnel. The boards were usually of elm, being resistant to damp, the supports of hazel and the central forked trigger ('mumble pin' - so-called because the molecatcher would commonly hold it in their mouth to avoid losing it when preparing the trap, and would thus be unable to speak clearly) of blackthorn or hawthorn. Not included with this particular object is the simple spring ('bender stick') of hazel or willow, which would have been placed above-ground with the end affixed to the top of the snare (cf. another mole trap in the Museum's collections - 1926.228). Such wooden traps, though with steel springs, continued in use until the 1950s before being replaced by cheap, commercially-produced metal models, in particular the 'Duffus' trap invented by John Newton Duffus in 1922 and variants thereof (The Guild of British Molecatchers 2019).
Event Date 20/3/2019
Author: David Kay

Description (Physical description)
Wooden mole trap. Comprises a flat board (probably of elm) with a support hoop (possibly hazel) inserted through two holes on the underside (there would have been a second at the other end but this is now missing). A removable forked peg called a 'mumble pin' (probably of black- or hawthorn) forms the trigger in the centre of the board, and is affixed to the latter by a knotted length of string. A copper wire double-snare is looped through holes at either end of the board and secured with small iron nails. on the topside of the board. A knotted length of string is affixed to the middle of this wire snare on the upper side of the board, and would have been used to attach it to a 'bender stick' of hazel or willow, which formed the spring closing the snares when the trap was triggered.
Event Date 20/3/2019
Author: David Kay