No 208. The Peat Fire.
The Crofter’s Barn.
No 207. The Crofter’s Peat Fire.
Nothing is more emotive in Highland Folklore than the crofter’s peat fire. The long memory of the Highlander will not let it go. Rightly so, but how many today have actually seen one used as the crofters did.
In my early days I remember the peat fire mainly in older croft houses on Rousam Head.
Essentially there was a back in the centre of the kitchen, a low stone wall or even a heavy flagstone. The peat fire would lie against it and many a fire had not been out for 100 years. Some regarded it as unlucky if a fire ever went out, and a large dampish peat called a boorag or just a faill peat would be laid on top at night, cover everything over with ashes to keep the fire in. It sweed till morning, and then a quick puff with a bellows would spring it to life. The kitchen with a peat fire like that never really went cold.
Admittedly there were not so many houses to which that applied, most had long been improved or rebuilt with modern fire places, iron Modern Mistress stoves and proper chimneys.
Above the fire but slightly offset was a hole in the thatched roof with a wooden trap door which could be opened or closed by an attached long adjustable pole from the floor. The pole could be set at differing positions on the floor to dictate how open the lum would be. The offset prevented sooty raindrops or hailstones from falling into the soup. It could also be closed if the wind was from the wrong eart. Most of the peat reek escaped through it but, especially on a muggy day, heavy peat smoke could hang long in the rafters, reluctant to go outside.
In the roof there was often a small square cut in the shed cover of the roof with a pane of glass cemented in place. Watertight too.
Either side of the peat fire were small stone walls on which to handily set kettles or pots, often near enough the fire to keep warm. Or hot.
There would be a swee, a movable horizontal bar which could be swung over the fire or set clear to one side. From the swee-bar hung a chain or two with adjustable links, or a couple of iron hooks at different levels to hold a pot or a kettle.
There would be a rectangular trivet, a frame of bars on short legs that could be set to or on the fire or otherwise. Again, cooking could be controlled by distance or height.
There was usually a pair of free-standing racks at the side to set in front of the fire to hold a rotable spit between them for a fat hen for roasting, or any other piece of meat such as a leg of mutton. Underneath would be a pan to catch any fat, well named a dripping pan. Nothing was allowed to go to waste on a croft. Do not forget that a good fat hen used to mean just that in days gone by, very tasty, unlike todays hygenic rubbish,. or a really fat shoulder of mutton off an old ewe, full of lovely sweet grease!!
There might not be a clock to watch but the crofters’ wives had built in timers, accurate to the second.
There was a griddle or brander, bars of iron in a frame with a long handle, see photograph. Brandered fresh herring was a luxury, filleted and split and with a knob of farm-house butter on top. Or salt herring long soaked in water to get most of the salt out. The griddle could be set at differing levels and came close to just toasting the herring. Eat it with your fingers as it came off the fire, scrumptious. Or any other fish that came handily out of the sea on an evening jaunt.
The small side walls to the peat fire allowed a couple of bars of iron to be set across above the fire, and a pot could be balanced on them. Some branders were made with short legs and could be set directly on the fire. A crofter’s wife was a magician with a peat fire, build it up or let it burn low to suit her cooking.
Then the griddle, or girdle, it matters not how you spell it. Mine is an heirloom from long ago, still usable, blacksmith made by Davie Lennie in Stronsay. It had a hinged drop handle, good for storage. The girdle was a most important device for baking. Get a good fire going, peat coals burning red and little smoke. On top of that set or hang the girdle and you were ready for oat cakes. Or bere bannocks. A bit of mutton fat wrapped in a small bit of cloth - it gave a better and safer grip - was used to grease the girdle and we were off.
There were other tricks of a peat fire. One was ironing. Two iron slabs were alternatively put in the fire, then fitted into the smoothing iron and a starched shirt ready for the Sabbath was magically produced. A good short handled tongs was needed for the hot slabs.
And the kettle, always sitting near to the boil at the side or the back of the fire. Any visitor and a pot of good tea would be produced quicker than any modern electric kettle.
In some ways we have not really moved all that far on!!
Friday 30 March 2012
Sunday 18 March 2012
No 206 Water Wheel at Lappin.
The Crofter’s Barn
No 206. The Water Wheel at Lappin, Dunbeath.
The motive power for threshing mills varied, a water wheel was recommended by G.W.Murray in his 1878 Catalogue for his No 2 Tiny mill for crofters where water could be got. Also for his larger mills up to No 6 but size of wheel of course would be as need be. It had the extra value for a crofter in that he did not have to provide a horse to thresh his corn and it gave a steadier drive without tiring and slowing down with hard work. Water was not always available but where it was then a mill dam and a water wheel would be used.
There are still many mill dams around, some at farms, some at meal mills, some still capable of functioning. There are also many mill dams no longer in use except sometimes as a pond for a few Rainbow trout!! Diversification it is called !!
I found an old water wheel at The Lappin, Dunbeath, just west across the road from Laidhay by 200 yards. It was quite spectacular as it had a long cut flag-stone lined mill course built above ground level on an earth and stone bank. Lappin was either a small farm or a croft, we will not quibble over the desciption.
The old dam was far up the land, fed by a ditch draining water from the hill land above. The aqueduct, almost Romanesque in it’s ambition, did its job. A huge amount of work for a crofter to build, the aqueduct at least 300 metres long from the dam. The first 170 metres below the sluice gate is down a ditch, then by the built-up aqueduct for another 130 metres diagonally across a field to the barn side water wheel. To build a similar mill-lead today would be astronomically costly.
The levels of that man-made acqueduct were magic, the sheer hard work needed to build it above ground mind boggling. I am guessing that some of the excavations to quarry the mill dam far up the field were used in part at least to build the raised aqueduct. Most of the mill lades I have seen were dug out to make a small canal, though bridging a final gap in the air is not too unusual. The old mill at Ham and the old mill at Castletown still show where the bridge was to the water wheel. The longest mill lead I know of was from the now drained Loch of Durran below Wester Olrig to the Milltown at Garth, Castletown, more than two miles in length. Now long gone and untraceable. It is shown in an old map of 1778 which I found and is now in Castlehill Heritage Centre.
In the barn beside the feeder platform of the crofter’s mill was a handy wooden lever which went through the wall and by a gate controlled the water to drive the water wheel, or shut it off when need arose to stop the mill. Though I was told the mill was very old it is not as old as originally thought. It is reasonable to think both the threshing mill and the water wheel were made and supplied at the same time by the same millwright. There is no trace of any former horse mill course.
The cast iron work of the water wheel still exists at the back of the barn though the wooden parts are long gone. On the iron side plate of the water wheel is the name B.B.CLYNE, MILLWRIGHT, WICK. There was on old Foundry in West Park in Wick. So a little family research was indicated.
Luck sat on my shoulder. B.B. Clyne was Benjamin Barnetson Clyne, millwright, born 11th Feb. 1866 in Wick.
He lies in Lair M150 in Wick Cemetary, dying 10th May, 1916, aged 50 of Morbus cordis, a heart problem for the curious!!
Inscriptions are
Benjamin Clyne, 10.05.1916 13 McLeay Terrace, WICK.
Christina K. Clyne 20.08.1926 1 Barron’s Well. ( nee Sutherland)
His father was George Clyne, Millwright, died 22.11.1901. aged 70 years. 10 Dempster Street. Lair M143. George’s wife was Ann (Nicolson), who died 25.03.1909.
The lair was owned by William Clyne, farmer, Noss, their eldest son. George’s death was registered by Benjamin B. Clyne, his son.
So we have a father and son as millwrights, working out of Wick from say 1860 to 1916. Benjamin died young at 50 years of age in 1916. The millwrights business passed out of Clyne hands, I think to Meilkejohn and Sutherland, Millwrights, one of whose mills sits preserved in Wick Heritage.
George’s son William took on Noss Farm. And so we link the present day Clynes of Noss with the pioneer millwrights of the later 1800s when farms were being modernised.
The mill and water wheel can now be accurately dated to the latter part of the 1800s, lets settle for 1890 when Benjamin, born 1866, would have been a young man of 24 taking over the Millwright’s business from his aging 65 year old Millwright father George Clyne!!
And, wonderfully preserved in cast iron, Benjamin Barnetson Clyne’s real memorial is still at Lappin in Dunbeath.
‘@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@’
INFO ONLY !!
Death Recorded.
GEORGE CLYNE, 10 DEMPSTER STREET, died 22.11.1901, AGED 70 YEARS
Therefore born circa 1831.
F. WILLIAM CLYNE
M. MARGARET CALDER
REGISTERED BY SON, BENJAMIN CLYNE.
1858. IST NOV. 1858 DEATH.
GEORGE CLYNE, son ALEX, d. 3 Mths.
MILLWRIGHT IN DEMPSTER STREET
LAIRS 143, 144, 145.
CENSUS. 1861
GEORGE CLYNE, MILLWRIGHT, 30 YRS
ANNE (NICOLSON) WIFE, 28 YRS
WM 9, GEORGE 6, JOHN 5, ELIZABETH 1.ALL BORN WICK.
1871 Census Benjamin B. CLYNE in
Piece: SCT1871/43 Place: Wick -Caithness Enumeration District: 8 Wick Burgh Address: 29 Dempster Street
Surname First name(s) Rel Status Sex Age Occupation Where Born Remarks
CLYNE George Head M M 42 Mill Wright Caithness - Wick
CLYNE Annie Wife M F 38 Mill Wright's Wife Caithness - Wick
CLYNE William Son U M 19 Flesher's Assistant Caithness - Wick
CLYNE George Son U M 16 Scholar Caithness - Wick
CLYNE John Son U M 15 Scholar Caithness - Wick
CLYNE Elizabeth Dau U F 11 Scholar Caithness - Wick
CLYNE Benjamin B Son U M 5 - Caithness - Wick
CLYNE David Son U M 3 - Caithness - Wick
No 206. The Water Wheel at Lappin, Dunbeath.
The motive power for threshing mills varied, a water wheel was recommended by G.W.Murray in his 1878 Catalogue for his No 2 Tiny mill for crofters where water could be got. Also for his larger mills up to No 6 but size of wheel of course would be as need be. It had the extra value for a crofter in that he did not have to provide a horse to thresh his corn and it gave a steadier drive without tiring and slowing down with hard work. Water was not always available but where it was then a mill dam and a water wheel would be used.
There are still many mill dams around, some at farms, some at meal mills, some still capable of functioning. There are also many mill dams no longer in use except sometimes as a pond for a few Rainbow trout!! Diversification it is called !!
I found an old water wheel at The Lappin, Dunbeath, just west across the road from Laidhay by 200 yards. It was quite spectacular as it had a long cut flag-stone lined mill course built above ground level on an earth and stone bank. Lappin was either a small farm or a croft, we will not quibble over the desciption.
The old dam was far up the land, fed by a ditch draining water from the hill land above. The aqueduct, almost Romanesque in it’s ambition, did its job. A huge amount of work for a crofter to build, the aqueduct at least 300 metres long from the dam. The first 170 metres below the sluice gate is down a ditch, then by the built-up aqueduct for another 130 metres diagonally across a field to the barn side water wheel. To build a similar mill-lead today would be astronomically costly.
The levels of that man-made acqueduct were magic, the sheer hard work needed to build it above ground mind boggling. I am guessing that some of the excavations to quarry the mill dam far up the field were used in part at least to build the raised aqueduct. Most of the mill lades I have seen were dug out to make a small canal, though bridging a final gap in the air is not too unusual. The old mill at Ham and the old mill at Castletown still show where the bridge was to the water wheel. The longest mill lead I know of was from the now drained Loch of Durran below Wester Olrig to the Milltown at Garth, Castletown, more than two miles in length. Now long gone and untraceable. It is shown in an old map of 1778 which I found and is now in Castlehill Heritage Centre.
In the barn beside the feeder platform of the crofter’s mill was a handy wooden lever which went through the wall and by a gate controlled the water to drive the water wheel, or shut it off when need arose to stop the mill. Though I was told the mill was very old it is not as old as originally thought. It is reasonable to think both the threshing mill and the water wheel were made and supplied at the same time by the same millwright. There is no trace of any former horse mill course.
The cast iron work of the water wheel still exists at the back of the barn though the wooden parts are long gone. On the iron side plate of the water wheel is the name B.B.CLYNE, MILLWRIGHT, WICK. There was on old Foundry in West Park in Wick. So a little family research was indicated.
Luck sat on my shoulder. B.B. Clyne was Benjamin Barnetson Clyne, millwright, born 11th Feb. 1866 in Wick.
He lies in Lair M150 in Wick Cemetary, dying 10th May, 1916, aged 50 of Morbus cordis, a heart problem for the curious!!
Inscriptions are
Benjamin Clyne, 10.05.1916 13 McLeay Terrace, WICK.
Christina K. Clyne 20.08.1926 1 Barron’s Well. ( nee Sutherland)
His father was George Clyne, Millwright, died 22.11.1901. aged 70 years. 10 Dempster Street. Lair M143. George’s wife was Ann (Nicolson), who died 25.03.1909.
The lair was owned by William Clyne, farmer, Noss, their eldest son. George’s death was registered by Benjamin B. Clyne, his son.
So we have a father and son as millwrights, working out of Wick from say 1860 to 1916. Benjamin died young at 50 years of age in 1916. The millwrights business passed out of Clyne hands, I think to Meilkejohn and Sutherland, Millwrights, one of whose mills sits preserved in Wick Heritage.
George’s son William took on Noss Farm. And so we link the present day Clynes of Noss with the pioneer millwrights of the later 1800s when farms were being modernised.
The mill and water wheel can now be accurately dated to the latter part of the 1800s, lets settle for 1890 when Benjamin, born 1866, would have been a young man of 24 taking over the Millwright’s business from his aging 65 year old Millwright father George Clyne!!
And, wonderfully preserved in cast iron, Benjamin Barnetson Clyne’s real memorial is still at Lappin in Dunbeath.
‘@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@’
INFO ONLY !!
Death Recorded.
GEORGE CLYNE, 10 DEMPSTER STREET, died 22.11.1901, AGED 70 YEARS
Therefore born circa 1831.
F. WILLIAM CLYNE
M. MARGARET CALDER
REGISTERED BY SON, BENJAMIN CLYNE.
1858. IST NOV. 1858 DEATH.
GEORGE CLYNE, son ALEX, d. 3 Mths.
MILLWRIGHT IN DEMPSTER STREET
LAIRS 143, 144, 145.
CENSUS. 1861
GEORGE CLYNE, MILLWRIGHT, 30 YRS
ANNE (NICOLSON) WIFE, 28 YRS
WM 9, GEORGE 6, JOHN 5, ELIZABETH 1.ALL BORN WICK.
1871 Census Benjamin B. CLYNE in
Piece: SCT1871/43 Place: Wick -Caithness Enumeration District: 8 Wick Burgh Address: 29 Dempster Street
Surname First name(s) Rel Status Sex Age Occupation Where Born Remarks
CLYNE George Head M M 42 Mill Wright Caithness - Wick
CLYNE Annie Wife M F 38 Mill Wright's Wife Caithness - Wick
CLYNE William Son U M 19 Flesher's Assistant Caithness - Wick
CLYNE George Son U M 16 Scholar Caithness - Wick
CLYNE John Son U M 15 Scholar Caithness - Wick
CLYNE Elizabeth Dau U F 11 Scholar Caithness - Wick
CLYNE Benjamin B Son U M 5 - Caithness - Wick
CLYNE David Son U M 3 - Caithness - Wick
Sunday 11 March 2012
No 201. The Crofter's Barn
“THE CROFTER’S BARN”. // regards // morris //
No 1. “THE CROFTER’S BARN.”
HORSE MILL GEAR TO THE GRIND.
“Rain on my Window” was of my younger days in Stronsay. But perhaps another title for an occasional article on early crofting days in Caithness and in Orkney. There is still a great deal of information around, and “The Crofter’s Barn” comes to mind as a title, encompassing all of what crofts still have to offer. A huge and worthy subject, and a challenge too before all is forgotten.
Nothing brought home to me the inter-relationship between crofts and large farms more than my recent discussions in the John o’ Groat Journal about Mary-Ann’s Threshing Mill in Dunnet. I also went to Laidhay Museum in Dunbeath and photographed many of their treasures. Time is running out for those of us who can still tell about and indeed used many of the artefacts in Laidhay.
It would be nice if I could record some of the fascinating days gone by, of crofters, of their hard struggle to make a living on much too small a piece of thin ground, often lying outside the boundary dyke of the good land which was gathered in the 1800s by rapacious Landlords into the “Home Farm” of so many Estates.
Dim in the past, and the not too far gone past, much farm equipment was handed down from a big farm to a croft. As mechanisation proceeded and larger farms put in new machinery, or bought more modern implements, so their previous equipment frequently went on to do sterling service on many a croft. Worth very little as scrap iron, it still could be made good use of by a knacky crofter.
I got rid of our horses from Lower Dounreay in November 1955 when we were moved by the U.K.A.E.A. to Isauld, the carts and much of the horse equipment went West in the truest sense. Sutherland crofters took away my carts, my harness, my horse ploughs, drill ploughs, harrows and much else. Mostly bartered away for a fresh run salmon or two, or a haunch of venison, but sometimes for money.
Crofters took our two old horse reapers, our old 1938 Massey Harris binder went to R.B.Henderson, Achreamie. My first Combine, a small green Activ bought early in the 1960s and made in Sweden, could be seen years later just off the road up Strathnaver, still working. A nice size for a small farm or for a croft, it did me for a start with combining at Isauld, as the joined up farms of Lower Dounreay, Buldoo Croft and Isauld were now called.
Just on 100 years ago, on August 24th 1912, Wm Tait at The Bay, Stronsay, ventured into the Machine Age with a new oil engine for his thrashing mill. Until then he had worked his threshing mill with two horses on a mill course outside the barn wall. Shipped in from Kirkwall. “Oil” was an abbreviation for paraffin oil, sometimes later called Vaporising Oil, or TVO, not petrol. I had forgotten until I read in his Diary that these engines were frequently called “Oil Engine”, which would have differentiated them from steam engines. John Scarth, Millwright, Kirkwall, had been at the Bay on June 13th taking measurements of the Mill. It would have required alterations to pinions, pulleys and shafts to change from horse course drive to the new engine.
On 28th Aug 1912 William got home wood for his new engine house, 2 bushels of cement and a cask of paraffin oil.
On Sept 7th he put in the concrete base for the new engine.
On Sept 12th he put the shaft and pinion of the horse mill course gear to James Peace of the Grind, a croft in Rousam Head, and lifted the heavy Crown Wheel out of the pit. Next day he put the Crown Wheel and the two heavy pit stones to the Grind.
On the 14th Aug. “Mr. Scarth came here today to fix up engine - fine day.”
On the 16th “Fixing up engine. Scarth at Whitehall (Sinclair) seeing their mill a.m. ”
On the 17th “Mr. Scarth working at mill & engine.”
On the 18th “Mr. Scarth finished fixing up engine, then went to Rothiesholm. (David
Pottinger) Paid Scarth to a/c per cheque £2.10/- .”
On the 20th “Sorting barn, fixing up partition. John Lennie soldered leak in engine tank.”
On the 5th Octr “Cutting finished in Inyemoor, started Matpow. Jas Peace helping.
Received from James Peace, Grind, £2 stg. half price Mill gear.”
The balance of the money of £2.stg from James Peace for the old mill gear was paid on 29th Octr 1915, “Got from J. Peace, Grind, £2 payment for horse gear in full.” Definitely extended credit, £4 stg in all!!
These transactions between Wm Tait and James Peace brought home how crofts benefited in so many ways from larger farms tooling up and older but still quite usable farm equipment serving someone on a croft for long years afterwards.
No 1. “THE CROFTER’S BARN.”
HORSE MILL GEAR TO THE GRIND.
“Rain on my Window” was of my younger days in Stronsay. But perhaps another title for an occasional article on early crofting days in Caithness and in Orkney. There is still a great deal of information around, and “The Crofter’s Barn” comes to mind as a title, encompassing all of what crofts still have to offer. A huge and worthy subject, and a challenge too before all is forgotten.
Nothing brought home to me the inter-relationship between crofts and large farms more than my recent discussions in the John o’ Groat Journal about Mary-Ann’s Threshing Mill in Dunnet. I also went to Laidhay Museum in Dunbeath and photographed many of their treasures. Time is running out for those of us who can still tell about and indeed used many of the artefacts in Laidhay.
It would be nice if I could record some of the fascinating days gone by, of crofters, of their hard struggle to make a living on much too small a piece of thin ground, often lying outside the boundary dyke of the good land which was gathered in the 1800s by rapacious Landlords into the “Home Farm” of so many Estates.
Dim in the past, and the not too far gone past, much farm equipment was handed down from a big farm to a croft. As mechanisation proceeded and larger farms put in new machinery, or bought more modern implements, so their previous equipment frequently went on to do sterling service on many a croft. Worth very little as scrap iron, it still could be made good use of by a knacky crofter.
I got rid of our horses from Lower Dounreay in November 1955 when we were moved by the U.K.A.E.A. to Isauld, the carts and much of the horse equipment went West in the truest sense. Sutherland crofters took away my carts, my harness, my horse ploughs, drill ploughs, harrows and much else. Mostly bartered away for a fresh run salmon or two, or a haunch of venison, but sometimes for money.
Crofters took our two old horse reapers, our old 1938 Massey Harris binder went to R.B.Henderson, Achreamie. My first Combine, a small green Activ bought early in the 1960s and made in Sweden, could be seen years later just off the road up Strathnaver, still working. A nice size for a small farm or for a croft, it did me for a start with combining at Isauld, as the joined up farms of Lower Dounreay, Buldoo Croft and Isauld were now called.
Just on 100 years ago, on August 24th 1912, Wm Tait at The Bay, Stronsay, ventured into the Machine Age with a new oil engine for his thrashing mill. Until then he had worked his threshing mill with two horses on a mill course outside the barn wall. Shipped in from Kirkwall. “Oil” was an abbreviation for paraffin oil, sometimes later called Vaporising Oil, or TVO, not petrol. I had forgotten until I read in his Diary that these engines were frequently called “Oil Engine”, which would have differentiated them from steam engines. John Scarth, Millwright, Kirkwall, had been at the Bay on June 13th taking measurements of the Mill. It would have required alterations to pinions, pulleys and shafts to change from horse course drive to the new engine.
On 28th Aug 1912 William got home wood for his new engine house, 2 bushels of cement and a cask of paraffin oil.
On Sept 7th he put in the concrete base for the new engine.
On Sept 12th he put the shaft and pinion of the horse mill course gear to James Peace of the Grind, a croft in Rousam Head, and lifted the heavy Crown Wheel out of the pit. Next day he put the Crown Wheel and the two heavy pit stones to the Grind.
On the 14th Aug. “Mr. Scarth came here today to fix up engine - fine day.”
On the 16th “Fixing up engine. Scarth at Whitehall (Sinclair) seeing their mill a.m. ”
On the 17th “Mr. Scarth working at mill & engine.”
On the 18th “Mr. Scarth finished fixing up engine, then went to Rothiesholm. (David
Pottinger) Paid Scarth to a/c per cheque £2.10/- .”
On the 20th “Sorting barn, fixing up partition. John Lennie soldered leak in engine tank.”
On the 5th Octr “Cutting finished in Inyemoor, started Matpow. Jas Peace helping.
Received from James Peace, Grind, £2 stg. half price Mill gear.”
The balance of the money of £2.stg from James Peace for the old mill gear was paid on 29th Octr 1915, “Got from J. Peace, Grind, £2 payment for horse gear in full.” Definitely extended credit, £4 stg in all!!
These transactions between Wm Tait and James Peace brought home how crofts benefited in so many ways from larger farms tooling up and older but still quite usable farm equipment serving someone on a croft for long years afterwards.
Friday 2 March 2012
No 205. Horse Mill Course.
No 205. Horse Mill Course.
Water Wheels for mills were very desirable. George Murray in his 1878 Catalogue stated
“ This Set ( of Mills) is fitted with a small steam engine, but the same arrangement can be carried out with Water Power where such is available. They have been brought out to meet the want of the present time, it being now a settled matter that with the present price of horses, it will not do to thrash a large farm with horse power, and while the portable Machines have recommendations they have many disadvantages.”
The portable Machines referred to above were travelling steam engine driven thrashing mills.
But water power was not everywhere available, needing a stream or a large ditch to fill the mill dam ready for thrashing. There was also the huge cost and work of building a water wheel facility. So most farms large and small and most crofts had a mill course for horses.
We forget nowadays that farm work with horses was not just a case of switching on the electric motor by pressing a button on the wall. Horses had to be bred, fed, watered, and stabled. They had to be trained. They were at times dangerous, a look at old death records show every now and again an accidental death. Accidents did happen, perhaps all too often. At the Bay in Stronsay a cart went over a young man, who died next day.
His stone reads, sadly, "In memory of our son James S. Hutchison, born 6-10-1888, died 28-1-1910.”
Horses were temperamental, the good and the bad. The patience of old time horsemen was infinite. Some horsemen were good, some were not, some were just pure magic with a horse. The “horseman’s word” was real, though no-one actually knew just what it was. I was privileged to know some of these horsemen.
A crofter would have at best one horse, a neighbour to lend another was useful. It was heavy work even with a small crofter’s mill, but they would not be thrashing a great deal at any one time. Still, even for that it was considerable effort to set it all up, horses harnessed and yoked to the poles.
The mill course would be built raised above ground level to allow the horses to walk round and round, a centre crown wheel gear driving a horizontal shaft below in through the barn wall to drive the thrashing mill.
In the barn wall was a small window called the “whoe hole”, situated just beside the feeding position of the mill. From there the crofter could shout to his horse “Hup” to get it moving, “Whoe “ to get the horse to stop. Hence Whoe Hole. Mostly the horses were well enough trained to obey, though a young horse might need a helper to look after it till it got used to the work, usually a small boy.
The one I knew best, now 87 and long retired in Orkney, was one such. His most memorable occasion was looking after a young horse while his father fed the mill. It led to an incident which he has not told his father about to this date!!
The horse slowed down, which spoiled the thrashing drumspeed. My friend picked up a small stone, as boys did, and threw it at the backside of the horse. Unerring in aim, the horse louped forward, there was an almighty crack and the drive shaft lay in two pieces.
The only comment from his father to his very quiet son as he dismantled the broken shaft en route to the blacksmith was “Boy, David, they chuist don’t make things like they used to do.” It was a long time ago!!
There were various methods of getting the drive to the Mill. One was to come in through the barn wall and drive a toothed pinion inside. This could transfer the drive to a flat pulley which could be disengaged or not as the feeder wished by a lever to move the flat belt sideways from the fixed pulley on the drum shaft to an idler pulley. It had the advantage of not stopping the horses and having to start them all over again, apart from being able to disengage the threshing mill instantly.
Another was a direct drive through toothed pinions onto the drum shaft.
The “whoe hole” and the “shaft hole” are wonderfully preserved and illustrated at Mary-Ann’s Cottage in Dunnet. Though now closed for the winter these holes can be seen from outside in the barn wall facing the car park. There is no better example in Caithness.
The shaft hole at ground level is now built up. The raised horse mill course was there when we boys were going down past the Cottage on our bikes to try our hands at fishing off Dwarwick Pier, though the iron work had long gone. It was finally levelled when the car park was being made for the present facilty. Worth a visit in passing.
.
Water Wheels for mills were very desirable. George Murray in his 1878 Catalogue stated
“ This Set ( of Mills) is fitted with a small steam engine, but the same arrangement can be carried out with Water Power where such is available. They have been brought out to meet the want of the present time, it being now a settled matter that with the present price of horses, it will not do to thrash a large farm with horse power, and while the portable Machines have recommendations they have many disadvantages.”
The portable Machines referred to above were travelling steam engine driven thrashing mills.
But water power was not everywhere available, needing a stream or a large ditch to fill the mill dam ready for thrashing. There was also the huge cost and work of building a water wheel facility. So most farms large and small and most crofts had a mill course for horses.
We forget nowadays that farm work with horses was not just a case of switching on the electric motor by pressing a button on the wall. Horses had to be bred, fed, watered, and stabled. They had to be trained. They were at times dangerous, a look at old death records show every now and again an accidental death. Accidents did happen, perhaps all too often. At the Bay in Stronsay a cart went over a young man, who died next day.
His stone reads, sadly, "In memory of our son James S. Hutchison, born 6-10-1888, died 28-1-1910.”
Horses were temperamental, the good and the bad. The patience of old time horsemen was infinite. Some horsemen were good, some were not, some were just pure magic with a horse. The “horseman’s word” was real, though no-one actually knew just what it was. I was privileged to know some of these horsemen.
A crofter would have at best one horse, a neighbour to lend another was useful. It was heavy work even with a small crofter’s mill, but they would not be thrashing a great deal at any one time. Still, even for that it was considerable effort to set it all up, horses harnessed and yoked to the poles.
The mill course would be built raised above ground level to allow the horses to walk round and round, a centre crown wheel gear driving a horizontal shaft below in through the barn wall to drive the thrashing mill.
In the barn wall was a small window called the “whoe hole”, situated just beside the feeding position of the mill. From there the crofter could shout to his horse “Hup” to get it moving, “Whoe “ to get the horse to stop. Hence Whoe Hole. Mostly the horses were well enough trained to obey, though a young horse might need a helper to look after it till it got used to the work, usually a small boy.
The one I knew best, now 87 and long retired in Orkney, was one such. His most memorable occasion was looking after a young horse while his father fed the mill. It led to an incident which he has not told his father about to this date!!
The horse slowed down, which spoiled the thrashing drumspeed. My friend picked up a small stone, as boys did, and threw it at the backside of the horse. Unerring in aim, the horse louped forward, there was an almighty crack and the drive shaft lay in two pieces.
The only comment from his father to his very quiet son as he dismantled the broken shaft en route to the blacksmith was “Boy, David, they chuist don’t make things like they used to do.” It was a long time ago!!
There were various methods of getting the drive to the Mill. One was to come in through the barn wall and drive a toothed pinion inside. This could transfer the drive to a flat pulley which could be disengaged or not as the feeder wished by a lever to move the flat belt sideways from the fixed pulley on the drum shaft to an idler pulley. It had the advantage of not stopping the horses and having to start them all over again, apart from being able to disengage the threshing mill instantly.
Another was a direct drive through toothed pinions onto the drum shaft.
The “whoe hole” and the “shaft hole” are wonderfully preserved and illustrated at Mary-Ann’s Cottage in Dunnet. Though now closed for the winter these holes can be seen from outside in the barn wall facing the car park. There is no better example in Caithness.
The shaft hole at ground level is now built up. The raised horse mill course was there when we boys were going down past the Cottage on our bikes to try our hands at fishing off Dwarwick Pier, though the iron work had long gone. It was finally levelled when the car park was being made for the present facilty. Worth a visit in passing.
.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)