LAST week’s Craven Curiosity, pictured below, was a mystery this time last week - and it still is! Not one of our readers - or indeed anyone in the Craven Herald office for that matter - has been able to come up with what could be a cogent and considered answer to the riddle.

The object is a recent acquisition by the Upper Wharfedale Folk Museum in Grassington, and the original owner - who found it when clearing out her house before moving - asked around and was told that it could have been used by beaters to protect themselves from falling shot from guns - until, when asked, an actual beater pointed out that it would be too heavy to lug around!

It is made of aluminium and has two holes at the top for hanging it up.The diameter is 26 inches. There are two fabric handles, one at either side, and one fabric handle has disintegrated.

The problem seems to be the holes, and their unequal placing. If it was some kind of basic cooking pan - one guess - then it presumably wouldn’t have holes in it; another guess was that it’s a primitive kind of ‘wok’, perhaps used outdoors in former times to heat up food by placing it on a tripod. But then the holes would probably be of equal distance from each other so it would ‘balance’. The consensus in the Herald office is that it is possibly some kind of shield, which would fit where the holes are. It does appear to have been a one-off - but who made it, for what purpose, and how long ago, remains a mystery.

This week’s Curiosity, pictured above, is - hopefully! - more obvious, and can again be seen at the museum.

It is known that the object was recovered from the River Wharfe near Bolton Abbey at the end of the 19th century, and is made of bronze, but little more than that. Please send your suggestions, by 8am on Monday morning, to: news@cravenherald.co.uk