Parlor - Hornbook. Horn was the "plastic" of the later middle ages, and is used at Barley Hall to create spoons, drinking cups, inkhorns. Thin pieces of horn were almost completely transparent and were also used for window glazing.

Here, horn covers a "hornbook" and protects the parchment used to teach reading and writing skills from the sticky fingers of young scholars. Barley Hall has two, one illustrating the alphabet and one the Pater Noster and Ave Maria. They were sponsored by Pickford Removals Ltd.

Photo by Linda Pidgeon. Used with permission.