Tobar an Dualchais - Kist O Riches

Title - Former Clanyard crofts; threshing; anecdote about a house-bo...
Contributors - James McKittrick
Reporters - Prof. John MacQueen

Summary - Former Clanyard crofts; threshing; anecdote about a house-bound farmer hoodwinked into thinking threshing was going on.

The Clanyard formerly had three crofts. James McKittrick distinguishes between a croft and a farm in terms of the number of cattle, with a croft having perhaps twelve and a farm eighty. A croft would also have some arable land worked with a pair of horse. He remembers seeing a disused one-man pedal-operated threshing mill at Clanyard Bay. He reckons it would only have separated the corn from the straw: it would then have been necessary to flail the corn and clean [winnow] it. Farms had a watermill if possible; if not, then a horse-driven mill. Wee (Little) Garrochtrie was attached to Clanyard Farm, despite the name.

Mr McKittrick's grandfather was house-bound; if the men did not arrive in time to thresh for an hour before breakfast, a boy would start the water and he was none the wiser. Paraffin lamps were used for lighting, and Mr McKittrick even remembers using a candle when greasing under a blower [fanner].


Track Duration (h:m:s) - 00:07:58
Date Recorded - 1972.08.24
Language - English, Scots
Genre - Story, Information
Collection - School of Scottish Studies

Track ID - 31896
Original Tape ID - SA1972.160
Original Track ID - SA1972.160.B3; SA1972.160.B4; SA1972.160.B5
Audio Quality - Good
Audio Format - R2R



Recording Location:
  County - Wigtownshire
  Parish - Kirkmaiden
  Village - Clanyard


Item Location:
  County - Wigtownshire
  Parish - Kirkmaiden
  Village - Clanyard

Item Notes - 'Fey' is a Galloway word, of unknown origin, for the croft, infield or arable part of a farm.
See:
'A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue', available online [[http://www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl/]] (accessed 20 November 2008)

Permanent Link - http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/31896/1


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