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Bow Top Open Lot

Bow Top  Open Lot

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Bow Top  Open LotBow Top  Open LotBow Top  Open LotBow Top  Open LotBow Top  Open Lot
Bow Top  Open LotBow Top  Open LotBow Top  Open Lot
Lot number 8
Hammer value £5,600
Description Bow Top Open Lot
Year c.1950
Colour Purple/Yellow
Documents None

There can be few more romantic notions than taking to the open road in a horse-drawn Romany Gypsy Caravan.

Their design developed over the years into a number of specific types used by distinct groups of travellers and they can be classified by their method of construction, wheel size and forms of decoration.

The familiar Bow Top was originally developed by William ‘Billy’ Wright, a Yorkshireman who saw the potential of making beautifully decorated living vans or ‘Vardos’ in the family’s extensive woodwork shop. Specialising in supplying ‘high status’ Romanys, his designs differed significantly from those made in Burton, their square edged, more spacious design appealing to showmen, or the high roofed Reading vans which had a wooden roof (latterly with skylights) and wooden sides which tapered outwards at the top.

As tastes developed and pockets shrunk, smaller, less decorative caravans were produced, generally along the lines of the traditional Bow Top as they were less expensive to produce. These became popular in the 1950s and featured rubber tyres on their wooden wheels, retaining the traditional stove and bunk accommodation and were termed ‘Open Lots’.

This lovely Open Lot is typical of the breed and is believed to have been constructed in the 1950s. An older restoration, it retains its correct shafts and has an attractive early stove installed inside. It has been stored under cover and the woodwork appears in good and sound condition including the all-important wooden wheels, which are shod with good rubber tyres. Complete with a traditional hay rack at the rear, it was used for some time by its titled lady owner for holidays on the open road.

Extremely popular today for holidays or as an attractive garden playhouse cum retreat, the Gypsy caravan provides a much more interesting and attractive alternative to the Shepherd's Hut which is now such a common sight in gardens around the country. 

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