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Encyclopaedia of the North East

P - Ploo to police

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A large printed capital letter P with agricultural tools, a police hat and batons, manacles, a rattle, a whistle, torture implements and a large padlock.

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ploo la19- n A plough, an instrument for turning the soil ready for planting. 
~sock n A ploughshare la17- 
~irons n The metal parts of a plough. 
~hammer n A hammer used to adjust the coulter of a plough. 

Ploughing with horses took up much more of the year before the tractor came. It went on from January till April and then from October till December. In 1937, it took 77 days or parts of days, not always in good conditions.
Alexander Fenton 1987, Wirds an Wark 'e Seasons Roon

Plough tools. Left to right: a large, rusty spanner shaped tool, an iron muzzle shaped plough sock, and a rusty iron bar with a pointed tip.

Plough tools, Aberdeenshire. Left to right:

Ploo hammer (late 19th - early 20th cent.)

ABDUA:15920

Ploughshare from 'twal owsen ploo' (late 18th - early 19th cent.)

ABDUA:18823

Coulter (19th cent.)

ABDUA:15919

Ox shoes. Two flat oblong pieces of iron with wings at the front to fit an ox hoof. One shoe has a hoof placed inside it.

Iron ox-shoes from Drumlithie, Kincardineshire (19th cent.)

ABDUA:18834

Medal. A silver medal. On one side a woman in classical dress, with a shield decorated with a saltire, sits on a pedestal and places laurels on the heads of two agricultural workers, above the inscription SEMPER ARMIS NUNCET INDUSTRIA. On the other side the inscription Donald Macdonald ERCHLESS For Ploughing 1876 is surrounded by laurels, and around the edge is the inscription HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND.

Silver medal presented to Donald Macdonald by the Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland, for ploughing (1876).

ABDUA:63351

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polis = police 1 n 
1 n The civil organisation and control of a community.
2 n an official body that enforces law and order.

Police hat. A dark blue cap with a black and white chequered band and a shiny black visor.

Grampian Police hat (late 20th cent.)

LEMUR:1000012

Whistle. A small silver cylindrical whistle with a chain and clip. The whistle is inscribed METROPOLITAN PATENT, ABERDEENSHIRE CONSTABULARY, HUDSON & CO, 13 BARR ST, BIRMINGHAM.

Aberdeenshire Police Whistle (19th cent.)

ABDUA:18723

Rattle. A wooden paddle shaped block on a handle. The block has a long cavity at the bottom of which are two thin tongues of wood. These contact two wooden gears which turn and catch the tongues as the block is spun by the handle.

Aberdeen Police rattle (early 19th cent.)

ABDUA:18718

Gag. Two L shaped iron bars hinged onto a third bar which has a screw in it.

Gag (18th - 19th cent.)

ABDUA:18725

Police batons. Four wooden police batons, left to right: a baton painted red and white painted ribbon spiralling up it inscribed Fyvie Constable, a plain wood baton with black painted ends with a painted red and gold crown and the inscription VR 329, a baton painted black with gold ribbons, the red coat of arms of Aberdeen and the inscription Aberdeen Railway Police and a turned handle, a plain wooden baton with a turned handle.

Police batons and truncheons. Left to right:

Special constable's baton, Fyvie (19th cent.)

ABDUA:18722

Special constable's baton, Banffshire

ABDUA:14951

Aberdeen Railway Police truncheon (19th cent.)

ABDUA:18457

Grampian Police truncheon (late 20th cent.)

LEMUR:1000008

Manacles. Three sets of iron and steel manacle, left to right: large manacles for the ankles with a chain between them, small snip manacles with a hinge rather than a chain, regular handcuffs with a chain between them.

Restraints. Left to right:

Fetters for ankles (c1850).

ABDUA:18373

Snip manacles used by Aberdeenshire Constabulary (1856-1900).

ABDUA:18379

Manacles (19th cent.)

ABDUA:18368

Jougs

Jougs - iron neck ring used to attach people to Church doors as a punishment (18th - 19th cent.)

ABDUA:17631

Padlock. A large square padlock, almost a foot wide, with a large key with a circular handle which has a decorative quatrefoil cut out of it. The lock is on a plate with large diamond shaped rivets to affix it to a wall.

Lock of the condemned cell in the Old Tolbooth, Aberdeen (1700-1800).

ABDUA:17633

P - Ploo to police