trivets

Next for Chloe I'm showing my trivets made by my grandfather, William Spalding.

William came to Australia from Scotland in 1884, aged 18, with his parents and siblings. The family settled in Balmain, Sydney and William became a foundryman at Cockatoo Docks.
He enjoyed his work so much that he set up a small back yard foundry at home and made many pieces of ornamental castings including these trivets.

On the handle of this one you can see the scotch thistle symbol of his homeland.





this next is still in daily use under my electric jug, it's a nice feeling to be able to use something made by an ancestor and have a sense of family continuity.



These next two were obviously cast from the same mould and show the Mason's symbols, as far as I know William was not a freemason, but did belong to a lodge, I don't know the full history of freemasonry and lodge connections, but from the little I've read, I think they were all tied in - more research needed.




OK Chloe, what's next in the collection? this is fun!