Casgliadau Arlein

A horn used to alert the local community during the tithe war in north Wales, and afterwards to call the family and workers to meals at Plas Harri farm, Llanefydd, Denbighshire. In the shape of a long cone with a small mouthpiece at the narrow end. Made of three pieces of sheet tin shaped on formers and soldered together. Hammer marks and dents visible on the surfaces. Three ribs close together near the wide end.

This calling horn had a dual purpose; for most of its use on a farm in Llanefydd, in the hills of rural Denbighshire, it was to call the family and workers from the field to meals. For a short, eventful period in the 1880s it was also used in the ‘Tithe War’ to alert and rally the local population to obstruct the approaching bailiffs, intent on seizing stock and property in lieu of unpaid tithes. Decades of simmering discontent culminated in disturbances and clashes, some of the most serious of which took place at Llanefydd, and resulted in the deployment of British Army cavalry to maintain law and order. Afterwards, the use of the horn reverted to sounding mealtimes on the farm. It was donated to the Welsh Folk Museum in 1969.