Poems

Appendix

DRINK

Barrow Village had two draw wells and one pump. Each farmer had a well sunk in his own garden. In the early 1960s the road surface in Duke Street, opposite Alfred Barrow School, caved in on the site of one of these old wells. An ancient well in Well Meadow, which was built by the monks of Furness Abbey (four hundred yards from Barrow Village, in Salthouse Village), never ran dry . . .  hence its name, Boon Well, (situated in Well Lane). Part of the United Club near Salthouse Garage now covers the land on which the Boon Well was built. Boonwell Drive in this area is a reminder of this medieval well. The women used to go to the well for water, carrying it home just like the water carriers of the Bible stories. When Craven House was being built, an old well was discovered; it had bricked sides and was three feet in diameter. This was probably one of the old watering places for horses to stop, while carting iron ore to Barrow.

Home brewed ale was drunk with every meal. Ale possets were made for special occasions such as weddings or parties. This drink was usually served in basins. It was brewed by boiling ale and rum with bread, and seasoning it with sugar and nutmeg.

LIGHTING

The women and girls used to go into the fields in the autumn to pick the rushes when they had produced flowers. The rushes were trimmed and peeled. A thin strip of rind was left to support the white pith; this was passed through bacon fat. This rush light, about twelve inches in length, was placed in a rush light holder. A simple form of rush light holder was just a short iron rod divided to form a 'V' slot. The rush light was wedged into this slot. To light a rush light, a flint and striker were used to ignite tinder - usually charred rags. Cottages and farmhouses (until the middle of the nineteenth century), were lit by rush lights and tallow candles.

CLOTHES

Clothes were home spun. Spinning wheels, like the one kept in the lumber room at the Fisher farm, were used to spin hemp, flax or wool*. Some of this farm's windows had been boarded up to avoid paying the tax on light. This must have hindered Grandma Fisher as she sat at her spinning wheel, especially on short dark days and long winter evenings, when rooms were lit only by tallow candles or rush lights.

* Hemp and flax were grown locally; there was a hemp garth in Barrow Village.

Drawing by James Askew