Demand for dairy produce increased in eighteenth-century Britain. Ensuring that dairy herds had food during the Winter was critical, so haymaking became an important annual event. This explains its inclusion on John Bridgen’s milk jug, even if by 1780, cows were also being fed with grasses, turnips, and cabbages to guarantee a more consistent, year-round yield. Skilled dairymaids were vital to meeting the demand, milking their cows twice daily, normally at sunrise and before sundown. Another essential task was preparing and storing unweaned calves’ stomachs to provide rennet for curd and cheese production.

Staffordshire or Yorkshire, England, 1780

Creamware, lead-glazed and painted in enamels

Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest (C.1055-1928)