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Strange Dutch Barge


Titus

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The mollycroft is the roof/window combination, not a model of vardo.

 

I suspect that the showmans van shown in that holiday ad is named "The Mollycroft."

 

Other minor trivia: The hay rack on a vardo is called the cratch.

Edited by Starcoaster
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I had to look up Vardo

 

That's today's schooling begun then

Without looking it up, I think it's a gypsy caravan of the traditional horse-drawn type.

 

Neither the S.O.D. nor Partridge offers any help with "mollycroft", so the jury remains out. I'm quite prepared to believe that calling the entire vehicle a mollycroft is a transferred epithet. I am equally convinced that this type of roof may accurately be called a clerestory. Quite off topic, but Partridge does offer the rather fine word "moll-buzzer", a pickpocket who preys on women.

Edited by Athy
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Without looking it up, I think it's a gypsy caravan of the traditional horse-drawn type.

 

Neither the S.O.D. nor Partridge offers any help with "mollycroft", so the jury remains out.

 

Although gorjer myself, we had a Reading van in the 70s and used to get the showman's newspaper "World Fair" and I think you can safely take Starry's word on it.

 

Tam

Edited by Tam & Di
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Well, on a showman's wagon it's called a mollycroft because that's their term for it. On a railway carriage it's called a clerestory because that's their term for it. I'm going to call it a clerestory on that boat because it's not a showman's boat. I also think that it's by far the best bit on that boat.

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Well, on a showman's wagon it's called a mollycroft because that's their term for it. On a railway carriage it's called a clerestory because that's their term for it. I'm going to call it a clerestory on that boat because it's not a showman's boat. I also think that it's by far the best bit on that boat.

 

We knew them as clerestories on the Hotel Boats Mabel & Forget-me-Not, where they housed water tanks as well as providing ventilation and illumination.

 

Tim

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Although gorjer myself, we had a Reading van in the 70s and used to get the showman's newspaper "World Fair" and I think you can safely take Starry's word on it.

 

Tam

I shan't fall into the trap...

Yes, I am sure I can, but it is peculiar that the word "mollycroft", in EITHER or ANY sense, does not appear in either of these august publications. I wonder where it comes from? Possibly a link with "Molly" who are black-faced morris-dancers? Possibly with the archaic word "molly" meaning an effeminate man? It remains a mystery.

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Although gorjer myself, we had a Reading van in the 70s and used to get the showman's newspaper "World Fair" and I think you can safely take Starry's word on it.

 

Tam

Why would you want to call yourself gorjer?

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The mollycroft is the roof/window combination, not a model of vardo.

 

I suspect that the showmans van shown in that holiday ad is named "The Mollycroft."

 

Other minor trivia: The hay rack on a vardo is called the cratch.

 

I stand correction here but I am led to believe cratch is derived from the word creche meaning a manger: C19: from Old French: manger, crib, ultimately of Germanic origin; compare Old High German kripja crib]

 

This originally being the area at the front of a horse boat where the fodder was kept.

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Back to the boat...

 

With that bow, all they need to do to get the asking price is weld on a on a few fake rivets and paint Registered in Tamworth on the cabin...

Ooh, speaking ill of the dead!

 

This reminds me, at Cropredy over the weekend I saw a Hudson boat with a Beta JD3 Tug engine in its engine room. I thought that Steve Hudson offered the choice of modern engines concealed or of vintage engines in engine rooms, didn't know that there was a half-way house.

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Mollycroft, like vardo, is an Angloromani word. Spellings of all Rrom words are highly subjective, due to regional variations and the fact that the various Romany dialects are all largely oral and wouldn't have commonly been written down until very recent decades.

Edited by Starcoaster
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Mollycroft, like vardo, is an Angloromani word. Spellings of all Rrom words are highly subjective, due to regional variations and the fact that the various Romany dialects are all largely oral and wouldn't have commonly been written down until very recent decades.

Good info, Starry, thanks. It is a peach of a word - reminds me of the pleasure I felt when I first discovered "tumblehome".

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