A rare threshing machine that was at the Vale and Downland Museum at Wantage, Oxfordshire has been given a new home at the Brown and May Trust at Devizes, Wiltshire. The machine was made by Nalder and Nalder of East Challow, in what would have been Berkshire, but is now Oxfordshire.
The thresher is dated at around 1900 and is typical of threshing machines. However, Nalder and Nalder patented a unique adjustable grading screen which could be used for other things – for example stone and coffee, as well as wheat. These threshers were exported to the British Empire and also Russia, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, USA and South America. More than seventy gold and silver medals were awarded to their products in the first 50 years.
