1) A strum was a wicker-work basket, used in the brew-house to keep the malt in the vat.
1394-5 It. pro strom pro le brewhous, iiijd, Whitby
1446-58 pro cirpis ... et pro factura le stromes, Fountains Abbey
1616 2 men … was whitinge [sic for whitlinge?] streight saughe wodd to make trellesses, strums, maundes, baskets or it may be rydles and sives, Brandsby
1629 makers of Baskets, Bottells, Seves, Temses, Strumps and Kitts, Beverley. In 1617, Richard Cholmeley of Brandsby made the following entry in his memorandum book: Gray the strumme maker of Haxbie Henry Jackson overtooke him on the forest beyond Sutton … with a great burthin of streight Yonge sawghes which he confessed he had gotten in Spellow Wood.