A rushlight is a type of

candle A candle is an ignitable wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. A person who makes candles i ...

or miniature torch formed by soaking the dried pith of the rush plant in fat or grease. For several centuries, rushlights were a common source of artificial light for poor people throughout the British Isles. They were extremely inexpensive to make. English essayist

William Cobbett William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restrain foreign ...

wrote, "This rushlight cost almost nothing to produce and was believed to give a better light than some poorly dipped candles." One of the earliest printed descriptions of rushlights was written by English antiquary John Aubrey in 1673. Rev. Gilbert White gave a detailed description of rushlight making in '' The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne'', Letter XXVI (1789). Rushlights were still used in rural England to the end of the 19th century, and they had a temporary revival during World War II. In parts of Wales the use of rushlights continued into the middle of the 20th century. It is not clear whether rushlights were ever popular in the United States and Canada. Antique rushlight holders are occasionally found in North America, but most were probably imported from England; "none are known to bear the mark of an American smith." In New England, "rushlights were used little if at all in colonial days." Rushlights should not be confused with rush-candles. A rush-candle is an ordinary candle (a block or cylinder of tallow or wax) that uses a piece of rush as a wick. Rushlights, by contrast, are strips of plant fibre impregnated with

tallow Tallow is a rendering (industrial), rendered form of beef or mutton fat, primarily made up of triglycerides. In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton fat. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain techn ...

or grease. The wick is not separate from the fuel in a rushlight.

Preparation

Mature rush stalks are gathered in summer or autumn. The green

epidermis The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and hypodermis. The epidermis layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the amount of water rele ...

or rind of each stalk is carefully peeled off to reveal the inner pith, but a single lengthwise strip of rind is left in place to provide support for the fragile pith. After drying, the rush is then steeped in any available household

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers spec ...

or grease. Bacon grease was commonly used, but mutton fat was considered best by some, partly because it dried to a harder, less messy texture than other fats. A small amount of beeswax added to the grease would cause the rush to burn longer. On more remote Atlantic islands such as St Kilda the

stomach oil Stomach oil is the light oil composed of neutral dietary lipids found in the proventriculus (fore-gut) of birds in the order Procellariiformes. All albatrosses, procellarids (gadfly petrels and shearwaters) and northern and austral storm petrel ...

produced by fulmars was used.

Duration and quality of light

Sources give varying accounts of the length and burn-time of the average rushlight. ''The book of trades, or Library of the useful arts'' indicates that the average rushlight was 12 inches (30 cm) long and burned for 10 to 15 minutes. Gilbert White reported that a rushlight 28.5 inches (72 cm) in length burned for 57 minutes; he wrote, "these rushes give a good clear light." There was much variation in the quality of rushlights; a 19th-century writer observed that "one might very well flicker and splutter for an hour, whilst a second was just as likely to flame away in ten minutes." A differently made rushlight in which two strips of the rind were left on the rush before it was coated with tallow produced a dimmer light but burned much longer. White referred to these as "watchlights".

Fixtures

The burning rushlight was normally held by metal clips at an angle of about 45 degrees. If the rush is held vertically, it tends to have a dimmer flame. If held horizontally, it may burn too quickly. However, there were some devices designed to keep the burning rush in a vertical position, including

nightlight A nightlight is a small light fixture, usually electrical, placed for comfort or convenience in dark areas or areas that may become dark at certain times, such as at night or during an emergency. Small long-burning candles serving a similar fun ...

s made from cylinders of tin or sheet-iron perforated with holes that would allow the light to shine out. The rushlight holder was usually mounted on an iron tripod or a wooden block. Antique rushlight holders are now collectors' items. They were never mass-produced but were individually made by local craftsmen and blacksmiths.

In literature and culture

One of Aesop's Fables, known in English as "the farthing rushlight" or "the vain rushlight," describes a personified rushlight bragging that it is more brilliant than the sun, moon, and stars. The rushlight is then blown out by a slight breeze. The person who re-lights the rushlight advises it to be more humble. Some versions of the Greek myth of Prometheus mention that Prometheus brought fire to men in a rushlight. In

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...

,'' at the beginning of Act IV, Scene V, Katherina mentions a "rush-candle".

Anne Brontë Anne Brontë (, commonly ; 17 January 1820 – 28 May 1849) was an English novelist and poet, and the youngest member of the Brontë literary family. Anne Brontë was the daughter of Maria (born Branwell) and Patrick Brontë, a poor Irish cl ...

mentions a rushlight in the end of chapter XXXIII of ''

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall ''The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'' is the second and final novel written by English author Anne Brontë. It was first published in 1848 under the pseudonym Acton Bell. Probably the most shocking of the Brontës' novels, it had an instant and ph ...

''. Her sister, Charlotte Brontë, twice describes the children at Lowood Institute dressing by rushlight in the early morning in ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first ...

'' (once about a third of the way into chapter 5, and again at the beginning of chapter 6).

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...

mentions a "farthing rushlight" in the short story "The Boar's Head Tavern, Eastcheap", which is part of ''

The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. ''The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.'', commonly referred to as ''The Sketch Book'', is a collection of 34 essays and short stories written by the American author Washington Irving. It was published serially throughout 1819 and 1820. The co ...

'' It also features as a cheap nightlight in his ghost story "Dolph Heyliger", in which the protagonist spends the night in a haunted house with nothing but a rushlight to illuminate a dilapidated room: "The rushlight, which stood in the centre of the deal table, shed a feeble yellow ray, dimly illumining the chamber, and making uncouth shapes and shadows on the walls, from the clothes which Dolph had thrown over a chair."

Ken Follett Kenneth Martin Follett, (born 5 June 1949) is a British author of thrillers and historical novels who has sold more than 160 million copies of his works. Many of his books have achieved high ranking on best seller lists. For example, in the ...

mentions rushlights numerous times in

The Pillars of the Earth ''The Pillars of the Earth'' is a historical novel by British author Ken Follett published in 1989 about the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, England. Set in the 12th century, the novel covers the time between the ...

, as in "there might be a few people sitting up late, drinking ale by the glow of the fire or sewing by rushlights" in chapter four. Pip spends a night staring at a nightlight in chapter XLV of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

' ''

Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...

''. "Camilla have five pound fur to buy rushlights to put her in spirits when she wake up in the night." – Chapter LVII of

's ''

''. Several magazines are named after rushlights. ''Rushlight'' is a literary and visual arts journal founded in 1855 by

Lucy Larcom Lucy Larcom (March 5, 1824 – April 17, 1893) was an American teacher, poet, and author. She was one of the first teachers at Wheaton Female Seminary (now Wheaton College) in Norton, Massachusetts, teaching there from 1854 to 1862. During that ...

and published by

Wheaton College (Massachusetts) Wheaton College is a private liberal arts college in Norton, Massachusetts. Wheaton was founded in 1834 as a female seminary. The trustees officially changed the name of the Wheaton Female Seminary to Wheaton College in 1912 after receiving a ...

. ''The Rushlight'' is a quarterly newsletter of the International Association of Collectors and Students of Historic Lighting. ''Rushlight (The Belfast Magazine)'' is a journal of Belfast history and folklore founded by

Joe Graham Anthony Joseph "Joe" Graham (30 January 1944 - 9 December 2021), was a Belfast-based Irish writer and historian. He founded ''Rushlight: The Belfast Magazine'' in 1972. Joseph Graham was born in Belfast, the eighth of twelve children born to Ji ...

. The name ''Rushlite'' was used during and for a while after World War II as a trademark of J. V. Rushton of Wolverhampton. "During the war Mr Rushton started to sell his own Rushlite Batteries through Halfords shop."

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

references rushlights at the end of Canto CXVI, the last of ''

The Cantos ''The Cantos'' by Ezra Pound is a long, incomplete poem in 120 sections, each of which is a ''canto''. Most of it was written between 1915 and 1962, although much of the early work was abandoned and the early cantos, as finally published, date ...

'' that he completed: The hymn "All things bright and beautiful" 4th verse "The rushes by the water we gather every day" https://www.musicanet.org/robokopp/eire/allthing.htm

Preparation

Duration and quality of light

Fixtures

In literature and culture

See also

References

Further reading