China, 1960+/-

Wikipedia says:

The Great Chinese Famine was a famine that occurred between 1959 and 1961 in the People's Republic of China. Some scholars have also included the years 1958 or 1962.

This photo has to do with the famine, and unless they were digging irrigation or creating terraces, it doesn't look much like farming, but it is from a YouTube video sharing evidence that China's population might be much lower than they claim.

Video should start about two images before this one (narratively in context).
As to the wheelbarrows, though, they have a large wheel and the tray is flat above that. Not as stable as a European wheelbarrow with the wheel smaller, and out front.

Other Chinese wheelbarrows: Chinese Wheelbarrows

Heavenly Wheelbarrow

Medieval, with flowers, painted

"Virgin and Child on a Crescent Moon in the Rothschild Prayerbook, c. 1500–1520" is the description of the lefthand page, and that is by Gerard David, who may or may not have done the wheelbarrow on the next page.

Whelks, from a wheelbarrow (Victorian days)

I don't have a photo, but maybe someone will come across on.

I wasn't looking up wheelbarrows, but checking how to spell "whelk" (whether it was "welk," and it is not), for writing a bit about how Koreans use toilet paper for napkins and nose wipe and all else. Or they did when it was a poorer country and not a family might use tissues (like Kleenex) for everything from paper towels to butt-wipe.

Anyway, I found this:

Take a peek under the whelk's shell, however, and you'll find it to be quite an eccentric little chap. Sold out of wheelbarrows in Victorian London, the whelk was a popular street food in the poorer neighbourhoods of Whitechapel and Lambeth...

Times, of course, have changed. No one would dream of eating street food from a wheelbarrow.

(Quote from: Whelks are healthy, versatile and sustainable, so why did we stop eating them in the UK?)

Seafood with a shell, from a wheelbarrow, brings to mind the song "Molly Malone, which starts:

In Dublin's fair city, where girls are so pretty
I first laid my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
As she wheeled her wheelbarrow, through streets dark and narrow,
Crying "Cockels and mussle, alive, alive-o"

She's usually shown with a flat, wooden hand cart, in images I've seen in music books, and a statue they have in Dublin now.

German detainees in Fort Stanton, New Mexico

"SS Columbus sailors garden-Ft. Stanton, N.M."




In the second photo, they're working on a swimming pool, for their own use. Wheelbarrow show in the rear to the right. The photo is wider, but I only found it cut across two pages of a magazine article here: German Sailors on the High Desert



Same wheelbarrows, probably; different projects. Early 1940s.

Bo King sketched a wheelbarrow

Years ago, Bo King "did a worksheet." Bo is a friend of my kids (of our family), and used to sit at our house and draw. He drew everywhere, but when he was here, I got to watch. I loved this, and the wheelbarrow is in the upper right, partway between the first wheel and the jet engine.

Nuns in a wheelbarrow

Roman d’Alexandre, Tournai 1338-1344 (Bodleian Library, MS. Bodl. 264, fol. 22r)

Sent by Wendy Neathery-Wise, who found it here: discarding images (on facebook)

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I put "France" even though the book is in England, and even though Tournai isn't in France anymore. So I'll add England, too.
More about the manuscript for those who might care: Illuminating the Roman d'Alexandre: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 264—The Manuscript as Monument, or lots more odd border images from medieval manuscripts: (on pinterest)

Kentwell Tudor Wheelbarrows

Last year I put one photo, but today I noticed there were two wholly different contraptions!

So here is Adam Daniel and commentary with the wheelbarrow that has a deep container, and below is the one with a flat surface. Not sure, then if it's still technically a barrow. Still, nice details. Photos by Adam's mom, Julie.

Both have iron-clad wheels.

Korean Litter

Before the dynasty of dictators... article with many photos, DailyMail.com, March 2013.

The photos are late 19th, early 20th century. I've shown the difference between a Chinese wheelbarrow and a European—with different origins, one replacing a beast of burden, and one with a wheel replacing the other person carring the other end of a barrow.

Below is something more like the Chinese barrow, and also like a litter with two bearers.

The World Famous Arrowbarrows

First, I love this photo. Rob Schnepp took it at Mount Edgcumbe, in Cornwall, while they were setting up. I asked for a larger image, and he sent it with these note:

The backdrop looked so good so I had to capture it with the Barrows.

I play the part of the Red Baron (or Red Barrow as he's now called).

In this particular show we started with our flags right up the top of the hill by the Manor House so it would look striking as we all walked down to the performance area. Aside from the weather (it was raining), I think we got the desired effect

The image links to a post on their site.

Here's the Red Barrow, downed:

If you're in the UK, they have five appearances scheduled between the end of April and early August: Arrow Barrows (righthand column has the schedule). There are other images there, as well.

A previous post in this blog: Synchronized Wheelbarrows in Cornwall

Toy stroller, WWII camp

Alicia Gonzalez wrote "Hi Sandra!
While looking for vintage pictures of girls playing with dolls, I saw this one."

It's from the photo archive website of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the caption says: "A young Jewish DP girl poses with a doll and toy stroller in the Feldafing displaced persons camp. Pictured is Reisele Kirkel."

It may be a toy stroller, but it has a lot in common with a wheelbarrow. If anyone happens to find a photo of this or a similar "stroller," or sees one somewhere, pleaes leave a note! With two front "feet," stands, it might have one wheel, or two, or perhaps even none.

The photo is a link. Other info: Feldafing, [Bavaria] Germany, 1946 - 1947

Pride and Prejudice, BBC wheelbarrow

Elizabeth goes for a walk with Wickham and they totally ignore a great wooden wheelbarrow with legs/posts on the outside, separate from the handles.

Eric Sloane painting

I don't know where the original painting is—who owns it. If anyone knows, please leave a note.

Barrow, no legs

Elsewhere on this Robin Hood series there was a barrow with two short legs. They carried armor in it.

This is a different one, or perhaps the same one (prop) used in one show, and legs added to one end of it later.

This is from Episode 59, The Bandit of Britanny.

The wheelbarrow race in England

I hadn't seen the front axle fastened to flat lumber before. This photo is from 1932, and was identified as La course à la brouette en Angleterre : [photographie de presse] / Agence Mondial -diff. par l'Agence Mondial (Paris)-1932

It's from a link to 9,708 wheelbarrow-related photos on the French National Library site. Cath GB sent it to me! Brouette image

France is the place for wheelbarrow history. The wikipedia page in French is much longer than in any other language. Brouette

I went to see where that race might have been, and why. I found another wheelbarrow race in England, celebrating fifty years (so it wasn't the 1932 race). There are photos! One person pushes, one person rides, and there are costumes involved. And water. Big audience, even though it was raining. Braughing Wheelbarrow Race celebrates 50 Years.

The link is gone, and the wayback machine caught no images, but here, if you want to see some 2014 images, is a websearch:
Braughing wheelbarrow race 2014

It leads video and photos by individuals.

Braughing is in Hertfordshire, between London and Cambridge. Their race has a facebook page: Braughing Wheelbarrow Race. Their race has a nice logo:

Here's one in Pewsey that's for adults only, at night… Teams of three or more, costumes. September 18, 2014, if anyone wants to go and check it out. There are photos of former years: Peswsey Carnival, with wheelbarrow search. This is put on by The Pewsey And District Feast And Carnival (PADFAC), established in 1898. They put on the oldest carnival in Wiltshire. Their newsletter said, in February, that the 2014 race might not be held. In calling for volunteers, part of what was written was "There are some 800-900 people who take part in the Wheelbarrow race each year and between us we need to find two volunteers to take up these positions." (There are updates there.)

Without an extensive search, I see that there are also wheelbarrow races in Great Glen and in Watchet, in England. Watchet has a logo, too (at least for facebook purposes), at their page there: Watchet Annual Wheelbarrow Race

Devils and kings

Seems three kings are in a wheelbarrow pushed by a devil, with another devil leading. Maybe.



I lifted it from this image, page 282 of 674 pages of a Bible which was included in the search for French library wheelbarrows.

Bible --1270-01-01/1290-01-01 Detailed information
Image(s)
Description : figurant le Jugement dernier. Marginalia : à la droite du Christ les élus, à sa gauche les damnés tourmentés par des démons tirant et poussant une brouette où brûlent un roi, un évêque et un laïc, l'un des diables joue de la cornemuse. _f. 140, Aggée : initiale I hi
Get the document on the website of Bibliothèque d’agglomération de Saint-Omer

Barrow, wheel and no wheel

TEMPORARY GLITCH (I hope)—video returning at some point

Video works, but it's the wrong video..... I'll keep working on it. :-)



This barrow DOES have a wheel.

Linked to my wheelbarrow blog:  Wheelbarrow Things

"Barrow with Cupid" is its name

"Barrow with Cupid" is its name at the site where it lives, Garden Services.com, but it seems "Cupid with Barrow" would have been a better designation.

Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena

Pam Sorooshian and I had just been in the "European Art : 17th – 18th Centuries" rooms for a few moments when I said I was going to look for a wheelbarrow. The very next painting I saw had one. Cool!!!



The painting is by Jan Steen, a Dutch artist, in around 1668. Part of the description was "In front of an inn, a hopelessly inebriated young woman is being helped into a wheelbarrow." The title is "De wijn is een spotter," translated to English as "Wine is a Mocker."

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More from the museum's site (added here July 24, 2014):
Wine is a Mocker, 1663-64

The inscription above the door is from Proverbs 20:1, which reads: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” In front of an inn, a hopelessly inebriated young woman is being helped into a wheelbarrow. Although the woman’s low-cut dress and red stockings mark her as a prostitute, her rich and exquisitely delineated clothing indicate a more privileged status. Jan Steen subtly conveys the message that not only are those of superior position as susceptible as the lowly to the sins of drink, but that their disgrace is perhaps more pitiable because of the distance they have fallen.

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Note added June 6, 2026:

Near the end of Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday celebration in The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 1, "A Long-expected Party," Tolkien describes the departure of the guests:

"About midnight carriages came for the important folk. One by one they rolled away, filled with very full but very unsatisfied hobbits. Gardeners came by arrangement, and removed in wheel-barrows those that had inadvertently remained behind."

_____________

When I went to get the quote (because I'm separated from my library these days, Google's AI told me some other things about wheelbarrow-removal of drunks in art, literature, and history. I might track them down and make individual posts later, but here's this in case I don't: https://share.google/aimode/kJsmlUtuqcZWcSBPD

A wheelbarrow full of money

Tony Robinson has a new series of humorous history books for kids. They're quite British and some of the jokes and references don't translate to American English or culture, but I got a set for Marty and for me. Marty knew about this story.




He knew of money carried in wheelbarrows. He didn't know whether a wheelbarrow was ever stolen. :-) I went to look and found photographs (whether posed or candid, I don't know).



With an image search, I came up with lots of images of money-filled wheelbarrows, but general art. Except for the one above, I don't think any were of German money between the wars.

New Zealand, Tribute to the Suffragettes

Andrea Downs Quenneville sent this. It was posted to facebook by a "A Mighty Girl," a catalog of books for girls.

Here's another angle that shows the wheelbarrow better. Does it hold a petition? Clarification is invited! I'm not finding the date of creation of the memorial, nor the artist's name.

Images should link to their original pages.

If someone knows the story of the creation of the sculpture... Colleen Prieto found info! The sculptor was Margriet Windhausen. It was dedicated in 1993, and the wheelbarrow is full of a big petition with over 30,000 names.

The campaign produced three major petitions in 1891, 1892 and 1893. The 1893 petition with 31,872 signatures was the largest ever gathered in Australasia.
http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/Places/Memorials/KateSheppard/