D&G Study Gathering

St John’s, Castle Douglas

19 November 2016

European Ethnological Research Centre (EERC)

Website: http://edin.ac/1rhbcudThe EERC is an independent research body within Celtic & Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Our primary concern is the promotion of research into Scottish life and society and the publication of results of that research for educational and general purposes

Ethnological methods of research are encouraged across a broad range of subjects, both traditional and contemporary, and across all levels of society. The whole framework of society is taken into account. Scotland is looked at in its European context, and this perspective is reflected in the publications of the EERC.

The publications of the EERC include:

Scottish Life and Society: A Compendium of Scottish ethnologyThis major project comprises fourteen thematically arranged volumes.

Review of Scottish CultureThe Review of Scottish Culture (ROSC) is a publication of the European Ethnological Research Centre (EERC), an independent research body within Celtic and Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh.

FlashbacksThese volumes provide a highly detailed and personal account of the lived experience across Scotland. The everyday events which, because of their very commonplace, are so often overlooked and are yet so valuable to the student of the past, are brought to the fore in these volumes.

Sources in Local HistoryThe Sources in Local History series is concerned with manuscript sources, especially the diaries and account books of farm folk and tradesmen.

Details on how and where to purchase our publications are on our website.

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Dumfries and Galloway: A Regional EthnologyWebsite: http://www.dumfriesandgalloway.hss.ed.ac.uk/This innovative study aims to explore the everyday lives and culture of the people of Dumfries and Galloway, past and present.

An important and exciting aspect of this study is the collection of primary source material.

This is being achieved by:

recording the spoken memories of people transcribing and contextualising historical documents, including diaries,

account books and memoirs

Written work on topics relevant to the ethnology of the region is also being encouraged. This will result in a range of scholarly publications, from journal articles to books. Altogether, these publications will provide an engaging and lucid account of life in Dumfries and Galloway through time.

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Audio Clip Transcriptions

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Kirsty Robertson

Jim Wright

KR: Gonna talk a wee bit about the kitchen today, ah thought ah think they’d be interested to hear

about your herding on another occasion if ye didn’t mind. So you had a very, you told me very

clearly about being in yer mother’s kitchen.

JW: Oh yes, aye.

KR: An how nothing was wasted.

JW: No, no nothing was wasted at all. There was a way for everything.

KR: Yep. You had a clear memory of what yer mother’s kitchen looked like when you were really

wee.

JW: Aye, yes, oh aye, well we had the big kitchen table, where we aw sat round, it was very

traditional in a way, ah mean ma father sat at the top o the table, ma mother at the foot o the table,

we sat round the table in our, in our own, in the seats that was designated for us. If there was

visitors in ma father said ‘Now, little boys should be seen and not heard’ [ laughter] so we had tae.

He was a good father, he was a bit of a disciplinarian.

KR: An what did yer mother cook on?

JW: Well, she cooked mostly on a range. We had a range, a lot of other places had the open fire wi

the big swee and the chains an the [?] an the kettle an the big pots an things hung on that, wi the

coal underneath or peat, or whatever.

KR: So you used coal and peat?

JW: Peat, oh yes.

KR: Did ye cut yer own peat?

JW: Yes.

KR: Was that nearby?

JW: Mm?

KR: Was that quite close by, the peat?

JW: Oh yes, oh aye.

KR: It was.

JW: Oh well we, the old shepherds knew the right type o ground tae get the right peat, the black

peat out of. We got them.

KR: And did you ever go an help wi that?

JW: Oh aye. Ten days, ten days solid, liftin the peats from the chap that wis cuttin them on tae the

peat bank.

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KR: It was a bank.

JW: Aye an they were buried up intae heaps and spread an they were, when they were dried, they

were put intae what we called fittins.

KR: Fittins?

JW: Aye, ye caed them fittins, put them intae twos an up on their end and then ye got a, when they

were ready ye carted them home.

KR: How did ye cart them home?

JW: Usually a horse an cart.

[Telephone rings]

KR: Just carry on above that if ye don’t mind.

JW: Well, it wis a horse an cart an then as things progressed it wis a tractor and trailer an they were

stacked in a peat shed, or if there wisnae room in the peat shed, ye made what ye called a peat stack

an ye thatched it wi rushes.

KR: An how did ye get yer coal?

JW: The coal was delivered from a coal merchant. Our coal merchant actually came fae Girvan, but

there wis other coal merchants, but the one that came tae the big house, Miss [?] big house, [?], it

was, it was Girvan, they came fae Girvan.

KR: In a lorry?

JW: In a lorry, yes, aye. Sometimes a lorry, we had anthracite an it sometimes came loose an it was

put at the door o the shed and we had tae shovel it in but the coal normally came in bags.

KR: An in the kitchen, ah think ye told me, there was the kind o things ye mother cooked.

JW: Oh aye, she made hare soup, tatties and mince, rabbit pie, rabbit pate, an ah used tae love a

wee pigeon, scooped a wee pigeon.

KR: An haggis, you said.

JW: Haggis, she made me haggis.

KR: Dae ye remember how, dae ye remember seein her making it, how she made it?

JW: Oh aye, ah’ve actually held the haggis for her ta-. Oh no she made the, ah don’ what, she got a

[?] sort o suet an she made a sweet haggis, she put raisins in it.

KR: Oh right.

JW: An she caed it a sweet haggis. An it was jist, it was made the same way as ye make the black

puddin and the white puddin, same style like, an ah actually held the haggis for her an she-.

KR: You held the stomach, was it the stomach in thae days?

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JW: Aye, aye, the part that was the haggis, aye, while she pit the stove, then she sewed it up wi a

darnin needle an punctured it an she had a big fish kettle, that big fish kettle sat on the top o the

range an she popped them in there an boiled them in there.

KR: Oh, she made more than one at a time?

JW: Oh aye, oh she did a pot fu, she made the lot, an then put them intae, she made a quantity an

put them intae a great big pot, a big fish kettle ye used tae cook salmon in an that, an she made, oh

she made several.

KR: An how did she store them?

JW: She stored the in, well she did store them in the larder, but as ah’ve said before the larders

normally faced the north, an they were quite a cold place, and well, wi the family o us, there was

three o us in a family plus ma mother an everybody sat at ma mother’s table at dinnertime so they

didnae last long [laughter].

KR: An did she make black and white pudding as well?

JW: Aye she made black and white pudding, aye. The same way jist, the same style as the haggis, ah

mean we had tae wash oor fingers an everything an ye held them open an she spooned the [?] in

packed them in, sewed the top wi wool an a darnin needle an then poked them.

KR: An ye told me about a particular job that you had as a wee boy in the kitchen.

JW: Aye, well ma job was cawin the kirn [laughter].

KR: Cawin the kirn.

JW: Turnin the churn.

KR: Aye, aye.

JW: An ah didnae like, ah tried tae avoid it but no ah didnae like tae see the kirn comin oot, ah kent

that was my job. She separated the milk, she [?] the milk oot, an put the buttermilk in, like, an we

churned it tae it become solid an then she took it out an she’d butter clappers an she made the

shapes and wi her clappers usually had patterns on them and she tapped the bottom o the, she

tapped them round and ye got a pattern on the top o the butter and she could always cut them of wi

the clappers and she had a way o rolling them an she could make the wee, she could roll them in

wee balls like that.

KR: An was that just for the family that she made butter?

JW: Oh aye, jist for us.

KR: An ye also told me about how she salt-, she put the pig an the mutton intae brine?

JW: Ah don’t, she called in brine, there was salt an don’t know what else was in it, it was a crock, it

wis aboot that deep, that width, an it sat on a crock an it was salted in there but the hams fae the pig

was hung on the ceiling, they were rolled, an, well, ma father had the art an so did ma grandpa and

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he could roll them an tie them intae the round sack that see, like, an they hung on the ceiling wi a

gauze over them tae keep the flies off them.

KR: An did they jist kinna, how did they get preserved then? Was it just, had thae been in the brine

first?

JW: No, no, no.

KR: No.

JW: They just usually, well as ah say, they never, ah don’t know, it’s difficult to say that, but they jist

seemed to hang there an when breakfast had come ma father took the roll o ham doon and he had a

big, we caed it a gullie that’s a big gullie a-.

KR: Was that a knife?

JW: A knife, aye.

KR: A guille?

JW: He sliced it.

KR: Oh right.

JW: An we could slice them jist aboot the way o a slicer did.

KR: Aye, quite, ye could do it quite fine then, jist like the butcher does them.

JW: Oh aye. It was razor sharp, he sharpened it, he sharpened wi a thing caed a steel and ye could-.

We werenae allowed to touch them.

KR: No, no, no, too dangerous. An yer mother did a bit o bakin, did she?

JW: Oh aye, she did a lot o bakin, oh aye, she could make almost anything, tattie scones, soda

scones, [?] scones, pancakes, the three o us ah think grew up on scones.

KR: Did she make oatcakes at all?

JW: Aye she would make oatcakes, yes.

KR: On the girdle?

JW: Aye on the girdle, she could make oatcakes.

KR: And did she have a meal ark?

JW: Aye, she had a meal ark, aye.

KR: Would you like tae tell us?

JW: The meal ark, it was usually, ah would say roughly aboot four foot long, aboot three foot high, it

had a flat bit at the top an then it sloped, then it sloped down. Inside it wis partitioned an there was

a bag o meal an a bag o flour, inside it and there was a wee shelf inside an yer bakin soda an yer

cream o tartar, they aw sat, they sat in there, an the spoons for measuring that intae, ye see this is

before self-raisin flour she’d use bakin soda and cream o tartar. Ah’ve heard it was the cream o

tartar that actually made them rise, ah cannae mind that but ah don’t know, but that was for them.

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KR: So that was oatmeal?

JW: She had oatmeal.

KR: ON the one side.

JW: An flour, jist normal flour, in the other.

KR: So where would she get her supplies from, her messages?

JW: Oh there was a grocer come tae Glenluce, in a van. She phoned her, we had the phone, she

phoned her order down on a Monday, that order come up on the Saturday an she paid the grocer.

The grocer had it aw written doon and he had a big book an he had her name at the top an it was a

funny thing, when she paid him, ah can well remember, for some reason in these days ye put a

penny stamp on an you signed, ma mother signed through the stamp. The draper was the same,

we’d a local draper that called us, he called regular too, fae Port William, we bought our clothes fae

this draper, we ordered them an he supplied them an if we wanted we could pay him the next time

he come, he came every three months an ye paid him for a, an then whatever ye ordered and they

didnae half push ye to order [laughter].

KR: I wonder if that was a kind of stamp duty?

JW: Eh?

KR: A kind of stamp duty or something?

JW: Ah don’t know what it was but they stuck a, ah havenae even got one in the house yet.

KR: Yea, we’ve got old bills in the museum wi stamps on them like that from the 1880s.

JW: Ah’ll hae a look through, but ah might have some o J S Kinnear’s bills, ye ken, or Sam Carruthers,

an ah may have some of his bills in the house yet wi, ye pit the stamp on, even after ah was married

an we still dealt wi Kinnear, ah bought aw ma furniture.

Dolly Ferries: Dentistry at School!

DF: And ah remember, at that time, there was a, the one prominent thing there was this dentist

went round the schools and there was this McMinn ye called the man that did the school dentist.

Well, ye had, ye had aw yer treatment in the classroom in front o the other children. An there was

this boy, and him, a Davie Gordon ye called him, well he never had his, he had teeth tae come out

but they was never out, an the dentist was on top o him, the teacher was on top o him, he never got

his teeth out, no way, yells and screams an kicks [laughter]. An that’s what ah remember other

aboot that, other than that, that was that, it was funny, ah remember that. But luckily ah had my

teeth out beforehand, ah remember, ah think, an ye got sent home then, ye see, yer teeth out an

then ye got sent home.

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Dolly Ferries: Domestic Service

DF: Aye because ah went away, ah went away tae service, and the War was still goin on then, ah

went tae this place, an that, because ah remember VJ, VE-day, VJ-day when ah wis away. But

anyway when ah left the school, of course the War was still goin on ah worked horses, ah worked a

wee horse for Gavin Lawson, because we’d a bad year wi rain and Sprott got his done an then ah wis

down helping Gavin Lawson an ah had this wee horse an once the stack moved, the ground was

sodden, ye were liftin the strae, the corn an that, out o water, there was water runnin out of it an

this wee mare, ye couldnae, ye couldnae load up a cart fully loaded cause because the weight o the

sheafs, and she got her shoulder to the reins an she went, she never stopped till she was in the yard,

never stopped and other people workin in the yard were saying ‘You don’t have to make her run’ but

ah didnae make her run, ah jist couldn’t hold her back an she never hit a gatepost or anything,

through the middle there she went.

KR: An you were sitting on the cart?

DF: Ah wis sittin on the cart, oh ah jist couldnae have, ye couldnae hold her back, she jist put her

shoulder to it an off she went.

Dolly Ferries: The Black Market

DF: Oh there was aw, ah remember gaun intae the police station in Wigtown tae get this form

signed for the sugar for the bees. And ah don’t know if the policeman ever knew whether there was,

he maybe got some honey, he maybe got some honey for doing this, but he never, you were

supposed tae, you were supposed tae examine, gaun an examine things an see that ye were signing

the right thing, he should have been in the jail doing that, he was a policeman [ laughter]. An then

this pig, of course, there was another fella used tae come an help ma dad wi the cleanin o the pig an

that, an we were waitin this time on him comin, he was late comin, an of course ma dad had the

ladder up against the end o the roof, the end o the house, tae get this pig hung up when it was killed

and all the straw an that down, an then here we saw two policemen comin up the lane. The night

before, which we knew aboot right enough, there had been stacks o corn or hay burnt down at

Gavin Lawson’s place, this would be some courtin couples, ye see, an they’d be havin a cigarette an

of course that’s what happened. So, of course, this was the policemen lookin tae ask if we knew

anything aboot it, saw any strangers or anything. I mean, it wouldnae be strangers they would be

people courtin.

KR: Aye.

DF: An anyway, so there was this great scramble tae get the ladder down and everything before the

policemen come up. So that was that an they were up an away, we could tell them nothing and

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away, an then this Wullie Pretswell, as he was, he landed an we were a wee bit late getting the pig

done but we got it done.

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Robert McQuistan

Life at the Weir – the domestic challenges!

RM: Kate, you were, ye lived a lot o yer life in Carsluith but before that you were in where,

Gatehouse?

KN: Gatehouse o Fleet.

RM: Aye, Gatehouse o Fleet.

KN: Aye.

RM: An that’s where ye met…

KN: Dan.

RM: Yer husband.

KN: Robert.

RM: Right, is that his proper name?

KN: Aye, uhuh.

RM: Right, so ye moved fae Gatehoose tae his hoose.

KN: After ah got married tae him.

RM: Efter ye got marit tae Dan.

KN: Uhuh.

RM: An he lived where?

KN: At the Weir.

RM: Now the Weir is next to the shore isn’t it?

KN: That’s right, aye.

RM: Right on the shore.

KN: Aye, yes.

RM: An it was kinna, what kinna, well, who owned that house?

KN: Granny Nicol.

RM: An that was Dan’s mother?

KN: Mother.

RM: Aye. So she let ye intae her hoose.

KN: Aye, gave it tae us, an then gave it tae us, after she moved out.

RM: Aye, aye, an so, tell me what kind of house was it. I mean was it…

KN: It wis a widden hoose.

RM: The whole thing?

KN: Aye it was jist a widden house.

RM: Aye.

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KN: Aye.

RM: An how many folk were in it when you moved wi Dan, how many folk were in it?

KN: Nine, ah think we discussed [laughter], nine.

RM: So, an hoo many rooms?

KN: Two bedrooms, a sittin room and a wee porch.

RM: So, two bedrooms, a sittin room, that’s three rooms.

KN: Aye.

RM: Aw thegither.

KN: Uhuh.

RM: An hoo many folk?

KN: Well, there was upstairs, but it wisnae a proper, wisnae really proper rooms that wis upstairs, it

was mair jist the rafters o the hoose.

RM: An a kinna flair?

KN: Aye an a floor put, an a floor in it.

RM: Aye, aye.

KN: Aye.

RM: So how many folk were in that hail thing?

KN: Well there wis Stewart and, well to start wi?

RM: Aye.

KN: Years ago.

RM: When you moved in.

KN: When ah moved in? There was Stewart an there wis Jean an Granny Nicol an Shona an Hazel

and Dan and me.

RM: So ye’re talking aboot how mony? Seven, mair than seven?

KN: Aye, seven.

RM: In three rooms?

KN: Uhuh.

RM: So how on earth did that work oot?

KN: Worked oot fine.

RM: So you and Dan stayed in yin…

KN: Dan an me had the big room…

RM: Aye.

KN: …which was the big bedroom…

RM: Aye.

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KN: …we had that room. Granny Nicol, Granny Nicol used tae put doon a bed settee in the sittin

room at night an then pit it back up in the mornin an her an Shona an Jean slept on that. An then in

the wee bedroom, Hazel slept in there, an Stewart was up in the attic.

RM: Was that no a wee bit crowded?

KN: Well, ah suppose it was, for nooadays it probably is. But in they days, ah mean ah’m gaun back

noo fifty-three years, we werenae thinkin ocht aboot that.

RM: Aye, ye jist accepted it.

KN: Ah jist accepted it.

RM: Ye were richt onto the shore…

KN: Uhuh.

RM: …gey close tae the water.

KN: Aye, sometimes in the water.

RM: How?

KN: Wi the tide comin in, an comin right up in, and at one time it knocked the front door off…

RM: Did it?

KN: …an the water come right in the hoose an splashed intae the fire.

RM: Goodness, an what did ye dae wi that, how did ye cope wi that, wi the carpets an everything.

KN: Well, we didnae, in these days no many folk had carpets.

RM: Right.

KN: It wis maistly linoleum an rugs.

RM: Goodness.

KN: So what we used tae dae wis, if we thought it was comin in, we yist tae get blocks an put the

furniture up on blocks an lift the carpets, lift the rugs off the flair.

RM: Aye.

KN: And then when it did come in it was really, ye jist mair or less swept it back oot, the sand an the

wee beasties, ye jist swept them back oot.

RM: What beasties?

KN: Wee silver, wee silver things they were, an they used tae jump, an ye yist tae hear them hittin at

the lino [makes knocking noise] but they werenae no very big, jist wee, aboot the size, the length o

yer…

RM: Yer thoum?

KN: No, yer thoum nail, jist we tottie things.

RM: Right, right.

KN: An they yist tae jump an then eventually ye got rid o them.

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RM: Did ye lift the linoleum tae?

KN: No, no, ye didnae lift the linoleum.

RM: So wis the water underneath the linoleum?

KN: It wis a widden flair an of course there was wee spaces. There’d be wee spaces, so wi the air

getting in below the hoose it dried off the boards an it dried the linoleum.

RM: So there was enough air circulatin to get the hail thing dried up.

KN: Aye, tae get it, tae let it dry oot, aye.

RM: Gidness me. So, the arrangements for eating, ah mean there wis you an Dan.

KN: Me an Dan wis in the bedroom an ah cooked for him an me.

RM: Haud on we hae nae talked aboot electricity yet.

KN: Oh right.

RM: What wis yer, did ye hae ony electricity?

KN: No, there was nae electricity.

RM: Right.

KN: Nae electricity.

RM: So, nae lightin, nae electric lightin.

KN: No, ah cooked on a stove that was in the room.

RM: What kinna stove wis it?

KN: It wis kinna like a Rayburn, Bobby, but no a Rayburn, ye ken, it wis off that kinna style o thing.

Ye put a fire in yin side o it an ye could, it got kinna warm and then there was the bit where ye lifted

the wee lid where the flames were.

RM: So ye stoked it up wi wid di ye.

KN: Oh aye we stoked it up wi wid.

RM: Whaur did ye get the wid fae?

KN: Dan got it doon the shore an…

RM: Jist wanderin along the shore.

KN: …an got wid oot o the wid an wid off the shore.

RM: An stoked this wee stove.

KN: Aye, jist gaithered it up wherever we could fund it.

RM: An hoo many hobs were in, oh ye said a single, on the top.

KN: Aye, a ring assembly an then a flat bit which ye could sit things on an it got kept kinna warm.

RM: Kept it warm.

KN: Aye.

RM: Because there was nae, there was only yin thing tae cook, cook yin pot at a time.

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KN: That’s right.

RM: So what did, what did ye do, did ye manage tae make a meal like that?

KN: Aye fine, uhuh.

RM: Stew an tatties.

KN: Cooked the tatties and stew an vegetables an everything, aye.

RM: Put them on yin side tae keep warm.

KN: Aye, uhuh.

Leaving home and married life - at 16!

KN: Ah wis only sixteen when ah went tae the Weir.

RM: Really?

KN: Aye.

RM: Is that when ye were marit?

KN: Aye, ah wis marit when ah, ah got marit when ah was sixteen, aye, in the May an ah went tae

the Weir in the June.

RM: Ye were a young lass.

KN: Ah ken ah was, but however, ah’ve struggled on an it’s been fifty-three years noo. [?]

RM: Was that the first time ye left hame?

KN: Aye. That’s the first time ah wis ever left hame, ah come fae Gatehouse oot tae Carsluith.

RM: An hoo did ye feel aboot that? At first?

KN: Well, of course, when ye think the world o somebody ye’ll gang onywhere wi them, won’t ye?

RM: Aye.

KN: Aye, ye’ll gaun onywhere.

RM: So ye’ll pit up wi that, pit up wi it?

KN: Aye.

RM: Because you were movin fae a hoose where yer mother an faither…

KN: Aye, with electricity an water.

RM: Oh right.

KN: Aye.

RM: Oh right.

KN: Riverbank, we stayed in Riverbank.

RM: So ye were yist tae haen [?] so called mod cons.

KN: Aye, that’s right ah was, aye. And then ah come fae Riverbank oot tae the Weir where there

was nothing, tae live in a room.

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RM: So, ah mean all ah can say is ye must have loved the fella an awfy lot tae come an [ laughter].

KN: Well, ah seem tae have done, ah could chuck him oot an ah’m still wi him yet, aye.

RM: An did ye no get the shock o yer life?

KN: Ah did, ah did for a wee while, ye ken, it wis quite queer for a wee while for tae be jist in…

RM: At that age.

KN: …aye, an stuck in yin room, aye stuck in yin room.

Forget your ‘mod cons’

RM: So nae electricity so yer lightin wis-?

KN: Tilly lamps.

RM: Tilly lamps, which is?

KN: Well, ye pit paraffin in them an ye pumped, ye pit a wee bit o methylated spirits on tae light in

below a globe thing and then ye let it heat for a wee while an then ye pumped it.

RM: Right.

KN: An then the wee mantle starts tae glow, aye it starts tae glow. But oh, there was a terrific heat

came off them.

RM: So that helped a wee bit?

KN: Oh aye.

RM: Ye were never cauld?

KN: No, no, ah wisnae, maybe first thing in the morning ye were cauld but yince ye got the fire on-.

RM: Baith fires.

KN: Aye, in the winter time it was baith fires but in the summertime it wis jist one.

The water supply – cooking and washing.

RM: The plumbing, the water?

KN: No, there was nae water. We had tae, we used tae keep a table in the lobby, well tae start wi in

the room, ah used tae have a thing in the room, where ah kept a bucket o watter sittin an ma basin,

for washin dishes.

RM: So where did ye get the water?

KN: We brought the water fae alang the road, jist a wee bit alang.

RM: Aye.

KN: It wis a spring that came oot o the wuid an it came doon through the wuid and wis a burn run

doon tae the edge o the shore an there wis a bit o rone pipe put in…

RM: Aw right.

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KN: …and then we stuck the bucket in below the rone pipe and filled oor buckets an carried them

alang.

RM: An that was it, carried them tae the hoose an used that.

KN: Aye.

RM: How mony times, did ye fill it up yince a day or-?

KN: Maistly twice maybe.

RM: Maybe twice.

KN: Aye, yin in the mornin an then yin at night, ah aye filled it at night.

RM: How did ye heat yer watter for washin an stuff like that?

KN: On the fire. Ah had a great big pot, ah had a great big pot wi twae handles and ah yist tae pit

the white things intae it wi the washin pooder an sit it on the fire an bring it tae boil an boil the

white things in the pot. An then ah yist tae tip it intae a baby bath an then ah yist tae wash in the

baby bath, wash the stuff in the baby bath wi the water that ah had boiled the white things in it. An

then sometimes a wid pit another pot o watter on jist for tae heat up, for tae keep heatin up ma

watter. And then we yist tae rinse it wi cauld watter.

Early motherhood and sanitation.

RM: So, what age were ye when ye had yer first wean?

KN: Just a month seventeen.

RM: Ye jist, what?

KN: A month seventeen.

RM: Gosh.

KN: Ah wis seventeen at the end o September an ah…

RM: Did ye ken what hit ye [laughs].

KN:…an ah had Kathleen at the beginning o December. She was born at the beginning o December.

And in that time fae ah went, before ah had her, the Weir was flooded and the watter came right, it

didnae jist come in the hoose that time but it went roonaboot the hoose and ah was eight month

pregnant an ah had tae climb oot o a wee back room windae for tae get oot because ah couldnae get

oot the front door.

RM: Get away.

KN: But, ah mean, as ah say, ye get yist tae that.

RM: Ye live wi it.

KN: Aye, ye get yist tae aw these things an ye think, ye didnae think onythig aboot it.

RM: No, no, well no then onyway.

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KN: No, ah suppose even when ah went tae the Weir there was still a lot o hooses that didnae have

watter an electricity in them. Aye, ken, ah mean the Weir…

RM: An ye wouldnae hae flush toilets an things like that?

KN: No, no, ye didnae have a flush toilet, ye had an outside toilet an ye either yist tae dig a hole an

bury it or else tak it, if the tide was away oot we yist tae take the bucket away doon tae the edge o

the tide…

RM: An dump it.

KN: …and fling it in.

RM: If the tide was oot.

KN: Aye, an then it got washed away when the tide came in.

Dan’s boat

KN: An then he built a wee boat oot it, a wee-er boat oot o the wuid that he rescued fae that an, he

built a wee-er boat.

RM: A kinna rowing boat sort o thing?

KN: Aye but he put an engine on it.

RM: Right.

KN: He could have a petrol, aye a wee petrol outboard on it, aye he had that.

RM: An what did he dae wi that?

KN: Well we used to gaun up an doon the water sometimes. And then sometime him and his

brother, Stewart, they would gaun away doon tae the Isles o Fleet and they’d go doon ate collect

gulls’ eggs and they yist tae gaun doon there an they’d be away aw day and they’d gaun when the

tide was gaun oot an come back when the tide wis comin back in.

Nature’s sea pantry

RM: Did ye hae hens an ducks doon there?

KN: Aye, mm, aye we did have hens and ducks an-.

RM: Wid that be for the eggs and…

KN: Aye.

RM: …for the eatin as well?

KN: Well, we never ever ate them but Dan’s mother yist tae have geese.

RM: Oh right.

KN: An at Christmas time she used tae kill a goose for tae have for the Christmas dinner.

RM: Oh aye.

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KN: Aye for the Christmas dinner and things like that. But then we used tae gang doon onto the

shore an get mussels. And we yist tae bring the mussels up in a bucket an wash them and then put

them in a pot an bring them to the boil till they opened an then took them oot, took the hair oot the

inside o them an washed them and then we used tae fry them in a wee bit o butter an then put salt

an pepper on them an eat them wi a slice o bread an butter an they were lovely.

RM: Tasty.

KN: Very tasty and then ah yist tae gather whelks. We did eat them, ah have eaten whelks but

they’re no very tasty, there’s no much taste tae a whelk.

RM: So, what did ye get them for?

KN: Tae sell them.

RM: Aw right.

KN: Ah used tae gaither whelks every day, for three years every day ah gathered whelks an we used

tae pit them in, well aboot hundredweight bags. And then Dan yist tae take them in the boot o the

car tae Kirkcudbright tae a fish man, merchant at Kirkcudbright an we used tae sell them tae him an,

now and again it was quite guid money, ah was makin in a week, nearly as much money as Dan was

earnin at the quarry.

A healthy diet – a healthy lifestyle!

RM: Ye miss it in a way.

KN: Yes, ah mean ah wid gang back doon an stay where the Weir hoose was.

RM: Aye, but no…

KN: But no the Weir as what the Weir was.

RM: The cookin, the cookin an the cleanin an-?

KN: Aye, if ah had a hoose wi electricity an watter an sewerage an everything in it ah would gaun

back doon there the morn.

RM: Aye.

KN: Aye, ah wid gaun back doon there the morn.

RM: An Dan tae,

KN: Oh, definitely, aye, he wid. An mean it took Dan a lang time.

RM: Tae adjust.

KN: Aye tae adjust tae up here. Every night he would come hame fae his work and then he would

be away doon tae the Weir. It took him a lang, lang time for tae get-.

RM: But when ye were there to start wi in your teenage years, ye’re younger and stronger an ye sort

o dae it, daen’t ye.

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KN: Aye, that’s right.

RM: So now ye would probably still gaun back but ye dinnae hae that energy.

KN: No ah hinnae, this is the whole thing.

RM: It’s no so much that ye didnae like what ye had.

KN: No. In actual fact the reason that we left the Weir was because Kathleen and Robert, Kathleen

was comin up, Kathleen was comin up for twenty and Robert would be comin up for eighteen an

they yist tae complain that they couldnae bring their friends doon tae the Weir because o the wey

the Weir was, ye ken, wi nae watter, nae electricity an things like that and that was really one o the

reasons, the main reason, that we moved oot o the Weir an come up here tae Bayview, or we would

probably have-.

RM: Still be there.

KN: We could, Dan an me could have been, well ah dinnae ken aboot still yet, but Dan an me would

hae been there for a long time after that, jist oor two selves.

RM: Ye lived well, ye had the fish…

KN: Aye.

RM: …the shellfish. Did ye ever eat the shellfish yourselves? Did ye ever eat it?

KN: Jist the mussels.

RM: The mussels.

KN: Aye, jist the mussels an the whelks.

RM: Ye had the rabbits.

KN: The rabbits an the fish.

RM: The fish an everything.

KN: Aye, an the gairden.

RM: Oh the gairden, aye.

KN: Aye, his dad aye put a gairden in before him an Dan aye put a gairden in an he had a

greenhouse wi tomaties and cucumbers.

RM: Aw the vegetables in the gairden.

KN: Aye, yes.

RM: Aw the tomatoes in the greenhouse, healthy livin.

KN: Aye, it was. An ah always remember when Kathleen and Robert were at the schuil, there wis a

doctor come, ye ken, a weans’ doctor yist tae come every year tae the school at yin time, for tae

look at the weans. An ah remember her face, her eyes nearly popped oot of her heid when ah said

that ah was doon at the, where ah was, doon a the Weir wi nae water and nae electricity. An, ah

aye, ah never forgot because ah aye mind o her sayin tae me that they were a privilege, a thing tae

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me because my weans were cleaner than some o the weans that had water and electricity in their

hoose an ah never forgot that because what a nice thing tae say tae me, ye ken.

RM: Aye.

KN: An ah was only young then, aye Kathleen and Robert were jist at the schuil, aye, jist had started

the schuil.

RM: Kate is there ocht else ye want tae tell me. Ah think ye’ve covered everything.

KN: Ay ah think ah’ve been no too bad.

RM: Maybe halfway doon the road ye’ll think…

KN: Aye, ah’ll think o something else…

RM: Oh ah wish ah’d said.

KN: …ah should hae said tae him. But that’s the kinna basic o it, Bobby, jist the electricity an the

outside toilet an the watter.

RM: An the fact that you raised a family withoot complainin.

KN: Aye, withoot complaining.

RM: Because that’s the way it was.

KN: That was ma man [laughs].

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David Devereux, Tania Gardner, Julian Watson

Billy McKeand: The Station yard

BMcK: Not a lot of people. No. No. Ye had the Station Master and about 4 porters. You’ve got 4 porters, there’s signalmen – wee Coupon Murray, do ye remember wee Coupon Murray? He wis a singnalman.

TG: No, ah don’t remember him.

BMcK: Uhuh, uhuh.

TG: Right.

BMcK: There was only really, one, ah think, spent most time on the passengers’ side. That wis Jim Middleton – they referred to him as ‘Jungle Jim’ because he spent army time in Malaya.

TG: Right.

BMcK: An he got the nick-name, ‘Jungle Jim’. On the goods yard ye’d Hammie Macmillan and Willie Blair, ye hud 3 clerks of the goods office – was Willie Blair, and Harry. And most of their time would be spent … you had big stores, fairly big stores in a Station yard which were very well thought out. The railway track ran alongside them, and the slidin doors opened and the railway wagons wud slidin doors, an feedin stuff would be carried out by the porters, from the vans into the store, an stored there. At the other end of the shed, at the other side was a door opened onto the yard where the lorries loaded. An the porters helped the lorry drivers – Milhench and Coulthard.

TG: Milhench and Coulthard were the …

BMcK: Delivered the feedin stuff.

TG: Yes.

BMcK: They’d a very good, organised business where they collected milk churns in the morning, round the farms collecting the cans o milk which was finished about 11 O’clock. The men left … down in the morning, Milhench’s men, and quite often they’d be paper boys, they would stop at the newsagents and collect bundles o newspapers which they delivered to the farm when the collected the milk. They’d be back in the town about 11 O’clock with their cans emptied at the Creamery and their empty cans on the lorry for next day delivery which you would take to Milhench’s yards, down the Dee bank, take the cans off, and come to the Station yard – maybe about 12 O’clock – an load feedin stuff and deliver farms in the afternoon.

TG: Right.

BMcK: An that continued for years.

Billy McKeand: Pavements

BMcK: The pavements were busier than the street because not, there weren’t a lot of cars around. Pavements were busy with housewives doin their shopping with their chapping bags – A can remember that vividly. Everybody shopped locally. The main traffic on the St Mary Street on the

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mornings was really delivery vehicles, and the early days, horse and cart from the Station yard, and later on, the wee Scammell Mechanical Horse delivered parcels to the local shops.

Billy McKeand: Street Sound

BMcK: A can remember in ma early days, lyin at, before A got up in the mornins, hearing the clip-clop, clip-clop, and it wis some o the local farmers bringin their own milk to the Creamery with their own horse and carts – pony and small carts – and taking their milk to the Creamery. And quite a few horse and carts around then.

TG: Gosh.

Evelyn McGibbon: Hostel

EMcG: We stayed, it was like boarding school, and you went home at half-term, and A think the odd weekend. But otherwise you stayed on the Hostel. And they, oh during the summer-time, those who had bicycles used to cycle out to The Dhoon or something, ye know. It wasn’t an unpleasant life, it wasn’t an unpleasant … but I didn’t have a bike, because my foster-mother, they never bought one for me. So I couldn’t ride a bike, but when it was possible, I would get the bus – there was possibly another one or two of us – but most people had bikes and they would go for cycle rides at the weekend.

TG: So you went, got up in the morning, and went off to school and came back in the evening. I presume there was, was it supervised homework or?

EMcG: Well, we had an hour between four and five, we’d free. So we’d usually wander off down town, bought a cream bun and, ye know [TG: Yes. Uhuh.]. And then after that we had to do our homework.

TG: And were you allowed to go out in the evenings – A mean maybe not in the winter but in the summer? Were you allow…encouraged to go out for walks?

EMcG: Well the thing was, after, I think it was after I had been there for two years, the education authority decided they wanted to cut-down and we were weekly-boarded, i.e. we went home on Friday night, we came back on Sunday evening. So that was completely different. So we didn’t have the weekends there. But, well I remember we were allowed to go to the pictures [TG: Oh right!] if, ye know, if we’d enough, I … If you had enough money left out of your pocket-money ye know?

TG: And was that a stipulated amount that you all had the same, or did everybody have different amounts?

EMcG: Well, it depended what year you were in at school. I remember having a shilling in my first year. But, it was quite difficult because my foster mother didn’t, I had to buy soap and toothpaste and things like that out of it, ye know.

Evelyn McGibbon: Ghost

EMcG: There was this, there was a ghost we were supposed to have. [TG: Oh right.] I think it was mostly the sixth-formers sort of making noises and running around in sheets [laughter]. But we used to have a midnight feast at night you know and try and … And we had a very good cook in the hostel

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and she used to help us sort of – we used to make jellies and all sorts, ye know. And we had this midnight feast.

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