A COMMUNAL bath and a miner's safety helmet from the Museum of Dartmoor Life in Okehampton have been selected as two objects to be highlighted on a special BBC website.

Following the making of a BBC Radio 4 series, each county was asked to submit their candidates for objects which 'would tell a history of the world' in their area.

In a collaboration between the BBC and the British Museum, the Okehampton exhibits can now be seen on http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyoftheworld/objects">www.bbc.co.uk/historyoftheworld/objects or through BBC Devon websites.

The wicker helmet padded with leather is believed to have been used in the copper mines of the Dartmoor parish of Belstone, in the mid 19th century.

According to the web entry, 'It was intended to protect the head of an injured worker being extracted from the mine, and is associated with a canvas carrying chair in which he could be supported between two men.'

The iron slipper bath allowed the user to bathe in complete privacy! Water was delivered to the lower end by a pipe, and drained after use by a tap.

The bath was preserved when Lillicrapp's Court, one of the last 'slum' courts in Okehampton, Devon, was demolished in the 1960s. It is believed to have been used communally by five families.

Maurie Webber, the curator of the Museum of Dartmoor Life, said: 'It is good to have some of our objects chosen from our museum in the website collection. It all helps to make more people aware of what we have to offer here and hopefully they will come in to find out more about what we have to exhibit here in Okehampton.'