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Jack Hill, who lived on The Gables Farm, explains vivid descriptions of a barn, followed by the old milking process in these childhood memories of the 1930's.
The barn differed from the conventional idea of central double gates allowing entry for the wagons to allow offloading on either side. This barn had small doors just wide enough for barrows and such equipment. The centre section had a timber staging to create a raised floor 2.5 metres above the base floor, which meant that grownups had to stoop when working at ground level.
Scattered around this central area were several pieces of cutting equipment such as a winnowing machine, chaff cutter, corn miller, mangold chipper and cake grinder.
Each item could be operated by hand but all had originally been located so as to be connected to the central power system mentioned elsewhere. But as each machine had a function at a different time the idea of starting up the gas engine was not given even a fleeting thought.
Thus the machine was brand new, even after standing on its plinth for 20 years.
The cows were mostly housed in the bottom cowshed where the milking was carried out. This shed was at least 100 metres from the house where cooling and putting into the churns was done. A very simple lean-to corrugated iron roof covered the cooler but the open sides made it very draughty.
The milk was directed initially into steel buckets held between the knees whilst sitting on a three-legged stool. It was then poured into a carrying bucket and when full was carried up to the house. For a few years a yoke was used across the shoulders of the carrier, but being of wood the woodworm had a feast and it fell to pieces.
The carrier then hoisted this bucket of milk high above his head by standing on a step and poured the contents into a container bowl. From here it was allowed to trickle slowly over a corrugated-shaped stainless steel device with water passing through it to cool the sides and thus the milk.
Water was kept in a large tank filled by bucket from the pump and so tended to get warm in the sunshine so cooling was also helped by the churn below standing in coldish water.
Once the churn was filled to an appropriate level, a tight-fitting cover was pushed into the neck and it was placed in another tank of water. All this cooling water had to be pumped by hand and so there was a tendency to keep the water for several days by which time it reached ambient temperature.
Mains water was introduced to the farm when improvements were carried out to the ground floor flat occupied by Dofy and Ted Petcher, but use in the farmyard was confined to one drinking trough in the bottom yard. Thus the main beneficiaries were outsiders or cows, although some of the family did use the water closet next to the flat.
When one thinks of efficiency it would have been far more sensible to have the milk cooling system located next door to the cow sheds.and use the mains water for cooling but that's a hindsight piece of wisdom.
Elaborating on the use of the WC, mother never took to this hygenic room with its red tiled floor and gaps above and below the door to allow howling gales to enter and preferred to use the thunder box loo next door to the pigsty. This had a long, wide, wooden seat with a hole carved in it. When the container below was nearly full, John Richardson would be called upon to haul it on a barrow over to the muckheap, dig a hole in the top and pour the foul smelling goo into it and close up again.
Before the arrival of the WC I also used the above loo and often used it as a playroom, particularly when playing mothers and fathers with the Pickaver girls. I recall standing on the seat attending to the candle and then tripping up and falling with my head through the hole. Of course the container was full and so my head was festooned with strange brown blobs and pieces of wet newspaper, for that was the method of cleansing. Newspaper cut in squares and suspended on string provided what seemed like hours of reading without ever getting to an end.
With a paraffin storm lantern as the only light source when outside the buildings, a visit to these small rooms was fraught with hidden dangers or imagined terrors. As much noise as possible was made in opening the kitchen door to give all the spooks good warning but even so the long shadows which strode along the other side of the yard filled me with dread. Once inside the refuge with the door securely bolted one could safely study the news however stale until the time came to retrace ones steps.
During the winter months a paraffin lamp was left in the WC to keep the frost at bay, the smell of burning paraffin being a smell one never forgets, and it was a good pong disguiser too.
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