Flails are weapons made of a large metal weight attached to a wooden handle by a piece of chain. They were based on the agricultural flail, a tool made up of a weight attached to a long wooden pole that was used for threshing wheat. This flail was discovered in a chimney during the demolition of a building in Speenhamland.
Speenhamland was an area between the centre of Newbury and Speen. It was here the Speenhamland System a means of combating high grain prices during the Napoleonic Wars was proposed.
