Cheese stones

[Cloudscape]

A group of really quite old local buildings were being "done up". The least said about that the better. :? I've done a fair bit of nosing around during the "renovation". From the plans, it was clear that a lovely old outbuilding was going to be demolished. In it was the wash boiler and bread oven. Those were knocked to bits and the metal sent for scrap.

But what intrigued me was the slab of stone in the threshold - set into the doorway. At first I thought it was a way marker, or had some kind of religious connection. Asking around, I was told it was a cheese stone and used to be in the barn attached to the house.

One evening I noticed the slate roof had been stripped off the outbuilding, and a bulldozer was parked alongside. So... the next morning, I went and found the 'gaffer' and asked if I could buy the stone, and a large slab of slate that was inside, like a low counter top, where I think the bread was made. I was only just in time, but I've saved the stone from going to the reclaimer's yard, and it'll stay in the village. It's just sitting on logs at the moment (it needs four people to lift it, so if it was on the ground, we'd probably never be able to move it).

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It's 32x19x6 inches. Did it need to be this big and heavy? How was it used? I'm guessing that a barrel or drum sat in the groove, and the whey ran out down the channel?

There's another stone (or most of one) that someone has set beside their drive at the other end of the village.



Are these stones common?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Cloudscape - well done. Makes you mad to think what they destroyed.

You're right, the stone is the base of a cheese press for squeezing the whey out of the mix. The top would have either been stone or wooden with either a whacking great heavy stone on the top or some form of winding mechanism (like a cider press) to apply pressure to the mix in a cloth bag at the bottom. The whey squeezed out and could be collected via the channel on yours, or the small hole on the other pic you posted.

See here from the Blanchland village website:

The old village cheese press has been saved and placed outside the village post-office. I suspect the grooves in the top were for some form of mechanism.

Here's a more modern (18th century Welsh) design - stone on top and wooden platform underneath:

I wonder what happened to the rest of your press?

Robin

 

[Moo]

I wonder what happened to the rest of your press?

Could it be that, being made of wood, it had simply rotted away?

 

[JoceAndChris]

That's a lovely find, well done for saving it. If only others could be as passionate about keeping their local history intact.

I'm really jealous of your borders too, why aren't mine that neat!

 

[Cloudscape]

Nor are mine (carefully angled shot). :wink:

This is what they knocked down. The cheese stone is the 'doorstep'.

 

[JoceAndChris]

How could they? Why aren't there laws about things like this? Such lovely stone too, murderers.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I wonder how old the cheese stone is then - as that biuldng could easily be 150+ years old by the look of it. I suppose it could have been placed in the stepl later, but doubt it.

 

[Cloudscape]

There are two houses side by side. One has a later red-brick front (Georgian/early Victorian?), but round the back there was a timber frame showing (now faced with bandsawn planks... and you can see large gold crosshead screws holding the facings on :? ). The other house is called the cottage, and is, erm, cottagey. It's stone and roughcast rendered. Behind them extends a barn, which was stone so far up, with about 3-4 feet of timber framing along the top (removed and replaced with concrete blocks). There are two outbuildings - or were. Half of one has been retained. It's a one-up-one-down and is really wantable. I jokingly asked the 'gaffer' if he could move it to my garden. The complex of buildings could easily date back to the 18th C, going on the ages of houses round me. The less said about the 'renovation' work the better. I've been biting my tongue, although I did make some enquiries as to whether actual demolition was a step too far.

One local lady in her 90s used to own the houses. Another lady in her 90s was the last person to live in the main house. Her understanding was that the cheese stone started life in the barn, but somewhere else locally took over the cheese production and the cheese press wasn't needed. The family who owned the house still owns a lot of the fields around me. They used to farm cows (hence the cheese), but moved over to (mainly) sheep a long time ago. Behind the complex, and now (luckily) disconnected, is another long barn and a sheep-shearing shed.

I was interested in the shaped stones on the outbuilding that has been demolished. Most local houses don't have them. We're mostly rubble and irregular lumps of stone. I've noticed there are some of the loosely dressed stones still lurking in the builder's pile of rubble, and I'm plucking up courage to try and get some of them. I wonder if they came from an earlier building as they seem a little grand (round here) for an outbuilding.

 

[Flyfisher]

That building looks very similar to the farm buildings I remember from working on a family friend's farm during school holidays, although I don't recall anything as fancy as you cheese stones. That was also in mid-Wales (Talgarreg, near Newquay). Such a pity that 'doing up' something can often mean demolishing it first. It looked like a pretty useful outbuilding to me.

 

[Cloudscape]

When the roof was removed, I went up on top of the washboiler and bread oven, and retrieved two shoes. There were other offerings - two basic lamps and a broken iron frying pan. The metal items has all but disintegrated, but the shoes are still clearly leathery. The soles are clotted with lime mortar.

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[Gareth Hughes]

Please report the find:

http://www.apotropaios.co.uk/concealed_shoes.htm

http://www.concealedgarments.org/information/about.html

 

[Cloudscape]

I'm onto it. I'm into the whole apotropaeic thing, and folk beliefs. The significance of the shoes wasn't lost on me - that's why I made sure that the shoes weren't lost either.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh my goodness, please will you come here and find some things? That absolutely wonderful! I hope you've got them safely wrapped in the acid free paper or whatever it is.

Go and resuce those stones Cloudscape!

 

[Penners]

I'm into the whole apotropaeic thing

Oh - what bad luck.

 

[Cloudscape]

The local history group is very active and has an amazing collection of items, photographs and ephemera. They have rescued many unique things that would have been lost. The stuff I've rescued from the 'renovation' was all I could do. The villagers who care are pretty much gutted about what's been done to the houses, but they weren't listed, and they were just outside the conservation area. :wink: It's a case of more buildings slipping through the net. None of us could raise any kind of fuss - it's all too wrapped up in local politics. Internally, all that remains of the original houses it one beam in the kitchen, as far as I can make out. Everything else is new - from ceramic floors laid on cement, to repro (really) fireplaces.

The things I rescued mean a lot to me. It got to the point where I stood staring, every evening after the workmen had gone home, at the outbuilding that was going to be removed. I still nose about, picking up fragments of blue-and-white china.

This slate slab is probably just a slab of slate to most people, but it was built into the outbuilding. It's 65x20x3 inches, and smoothed by use. It's incredibly tactile. (The wall's not mine, and yes, that is cement pointing)

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I also retrieved the remains of this chaff cutter (for £10) to stop it going for scrap, and because I think it's wonderful. It has a supplier nameplate that's from a slightly later incarnation of the company who supplied the range in my dining room.

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Even though many local houses have been altered over time, there's some tantalizing secrets locked away. At least three houses, including one that is documented back to the 1500s, have sealed-off cellars. These include one that was lots of things, from a monastery to a cobblers, and another that was a grocers, as far back as anyone can recall. I would love to do a little exploring...

 

[JoceAndChris]

Mmm, I think it's wonderful too. I'd love to collect things like that. There's an old plough in the next field...

"Sealed-off cellars" I just don't get that. How can people live with sealed off cellars? I wouldn't get a wink of sleep, I'd be itching to know what was behind, I'd have to know. It's all I can do to leave my floors intact, I'm so desperate to know what's underneath.

And now I want to go climbing up the chimneys as well, looking for shoes. :roll:

What will you do with the fragments of blue and white china?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Cloudscape - well done, keep it up. Some of your story is heart-rending. I can see you viewing the daily destruction each evening with a deep sense of frustration and loss.

You have to liberate the stones, and as much of the rest as you can.

Robin

 

[Cloudscape]

Hello, all. I've been a little busy. Long time no see. :shock:

I found this today, lodged in the construction of a window cill of my hayloft. I have no idea how old it is, or what the handle is made of. The handle has a very fine wood or bone-like texture... and is black right through (not surface coloured).

Because this fork was in a window opening, I'm wondering if was placed there (ie, it's apotropaic)?

Or just a lost 60s steak fork. :wink:

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[Cloudscape]

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[Penners]

or just a lost 60s steak fork.

Hi Cloudscape - welcome back.

No, I think this could be earlier than a 60s steak fork. Possibly even 50s. :wink:

The handle has a very fine wood or bone-like texture

In fact, a texture very like... er... plastic?

I'm teasing of course. It's very difficult to tell whether that's a genuinely antique fork or just "a lost 60s steak fork". Do you think the handle could perhaps be bakelite?