[Sca-cooks] carts, wains and wagons

Stefan li Rous StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Wed Jun 3 22:58:24 PDT 2009


/* Feeder a, /ix., 248. Robert Hunt, Sergeant-Carter, to provide carts  
and
wains for the King's use, May, 1415. /\M-, /31o, 312.

Johnnae

Wait!  I thought carts and wains were the same thing.  As in, wains are
carts, carts are wains.  What's the difference?
--
Ian of Oertha
--------------

Carts have a single axle with two wheels and a wain has two axles with  
four wheels. One of the big differences is that with a wain/wagon you  
don't have to worry about balancing the load fore and aft, which you  
have to with a two wheeled cart. One of the reasons I built a dog  
wagon and not a dog cart.

Okay, Wikipedia has this to say on wains:
"A wain is a type of horse-drawn, load-carrying vehicle, used for  
agricultural purposes rather than transporting people, for example a  
haywain. It normally has four wheels but the term has now acquired  
slightly poetical connotations so is not always used with technical  
correctness. However, a two-wheeled 'haywain' would be a hay cart, as  
opposed to a carriage. "Wain" is also an archaic term for chariot.

Builders of wains were known as wainwrights, just as the builders of  
carts were known as cartwrights. These trades no longer exist, but the  
terms survive as the surnames of descendants of those practising these  
crafts."

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****




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