Early post-medieval cast dog-headed copper-alloy barrel tap with rectangular-sectioned outlet. From Hyde Churchyard, Winchester, Hampshire. 16th-17th century date.

Early post-medieval cast dog-headed copper-alloy barrel tap with rectangular-sectioned outlet. From Hyde Churchyard, Winchester, Hampshire. 16th-17th century date.

Copper-alloy barrel tap

Tudor or Stuart, 16th-17th century

Found at St Bartholemew's Churchyard, Hyde, Winchester, Hampshire

A cast dog-headed barrel tap, which would have been hammered into a wooden barrel. The key or handle is missing. Might the loss of this particular tap in the churchyard be evidence of a social get-together after some long-ago Sunday service at the church by the local parishioners of Hyde?

Early post-medieval cast dog-headed copper-alloy barrel tap with rectangular-sectioned outlet. From Hyde Churchyard, Winchester, Hampshire. 16th-17th century date.