All I want for Christmas...

is a winnowing machine (blwch nithi in Welsh).

I was amused by the juxtaposition of the decorated tree and the old agricultural device at Narberth Museum (which btw has a nice little cafe within a second-hand bookshop, as well as the exhibits themselves.)

Winnowing as you well know was the process by which the grain is separated from the chaff (husks), traditionally achieved by using the force of the wind, or fanned air,  to blow the lighter material away from the heavier. Machines to perform the same end were introduced in Europe in the late 18thC. (although the Chinese had them long before).

This machine was made made locally in the late 19thC presumably by or for the  town's ironmonger whose name it bears. It spent its working life on a local farm and was subsequently restored for the museum.
I imagine it was powered by hand although possibly could have been connected to a waterwheel such as many farms had back then.


I don't imagine Santa Claus got it down the chimney but it would certainly have been an enviable piece of equipment at the time. Such machines promised to achieve in one day what would have taken 10.