{{Short description|Decorative cover for a coachman's seat}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}} [[File:Gala Berlin with red hammercloth.jpg|thumb|The hammercloth is the red drapery on the coachman's seat of this Gala Berlin]] thumb|Lord Mayor's Show, London, 2006 A '''hammercloth''' is a large decorative piece of heavy weatherproof fabric, often fringed and richly adorned with embroidery, gemstones, and cloth of gold, placed over and around the seat of the coachman of a carriage or coach. A hammercloth might display the arms or other emblems of the heritage of the owner of the coach.
==Origin== The origin of the word ''hammercloth'' is uncertain, and several etymologies have been given. One is that a coachman used to carry his tools, including a hammer, with him underneath his seat to perform repairs to a carriage should it break down on the road. Another is that the "hammer" portion is a corruption of the word "hamper", and meant to suggest that the cloth covered a hamper which might contain food for the passengers or coachman. A third is that it is a corruption of "hammock", and that a "hammock-cloth" was a strip of fabric used instead of a wooden seat in days before carriages had springs for shock absorption. On a carriage with no springs, a hammock provides a much more comfortable ride than a wooden slat, and so "hammock-cloth" may have been the original term.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Replies: A Weekly Journal of Question and Answer|title=What is the origin of Hammer-cloths?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y6cOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA138|accessdate=15 December 2019|volume=II|page=138|number=35|date=29 November 1879}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Samuel Pegge|title=Curialia Miscellanea; Or, Anecdotes of Old Times: Regal, Noble, Gentilitial, and Miscellaneous: Including Authentic Anecdotes of the Royal Household, and the Manners and Customs of the Court, at an Early Period of the English History|url=https://archive.org/details/curialiamiscell00pegggoog|year=1818|publisher=J. Nichols, Son, and Bentley|page=[https://archive.org/details/curialiamiscell00pegggoog/page/n406 304]}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Horse-drawn carriages}} {{Commonscat|Hammercloths}}
Category: Carriages Category:Horse-drawn vehicle parts