Fire buckets can be traced back as far as Ancient Rome.  They were made from leather with a rope handle.  They only held a small amount of water and were passed along a line of people towards the fire.  Early English buckets were ‘stout’ being almost as wide as they were tall.  Equipment at this period for ‘firefighting’ was stored in local churches.

In 1666, the most famous fire was of course ‘The Fire of London’, there was no organised fire brigade as such at this time. The fire lasted for five days in September 1666 and destroyed many buildings in London.  The damage caused by the fire was huge and 436 areas of London were destroyed. Firefighting was very basic at this time, with very little skill or knowledge involved.  Leather buckets, axes and water squirts were used to fight the fire but most of this had little effect.  At this period, by law, every parish church had to hold equipment ready for ‘fire prevention’. This would include long ladders, leather buckets, axes and fire hooks. (These were wrought iron hooks on a handle and were used for removing burning roof material to prevent fires from spreading).

As a result of the Fire of London new regulations were designed to prevent such a disaster happening again.  Streets were widened, pavements and sewers were laid.  By law every parish church had to hold equipment.

We are extremely privileged at Witney Museum to have four painted leather fire buckets from Cokethorpe School.  They are in extremely good condition and quite beautiful. The Cokethorpe estate consisted of a large 18^th century mansion house surrounded by parkland, a medieval church, a 19^th century farm and a Georgian fishing lodge.

The school was founded in 1957.

By Kath Wondrak, Volunteer