Wakefield Museums and Castles

This silver spoon-like object is a very specialist piece of cutlery. It is designed to scoop the marrow out of bones. 

In the 1800s forks had become popular in Europe. Before forks, even the richest and grandest people often ate with their hands. With forks, eating could be more delicate and fancy. Table manners became popular for the rich. This meant no more banging bones on the table and slurping noisily on the end! 

People still wanted to eat the marrow from the centre of the bones. The solution was a special spoon that you could push into the bone to scoop the marrow out. This one even has two different sized scoops, one on each end, so that you can clean out both large and small bones. 

Pontefract cookery writer, Elizabeth Moxon, uses marrow in lots of her recipes. From savoury chicken or oyster pies, to sweet carrot or almond puddings, it was an important ingredient.