Scold's bridle

Scold's bridle mask which partially covers face, large nose-piece and jagged mouth, hinged neck ring and bell suspended at top of head, probably German, 1550-1800. This item is one of the more disturbing objects in Henry Wellcome’s collection. A ‘Scold’s bridle’ is a fearsome looking mask which fits tightly on to the head. A scold was defined as a “rude, clamorous woman”. The bridle was used as a punishment for women considered to be spending too much time gossiping or quarrelling. Time spent in the bridle was normally allocated as a punishment by a local magistrate. https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co155218/ RIGHTS: Data in the title, made, maker and details fields are released under Creative Commons Zero. Descriptions and all other text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Scanned using Cyreal multi camera photogrammetry platform www.cyreal.com © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum