06.27.08
Cregneash Part II
The first cottage we peaked into at Cregneash was the Turner’s cottage. The Cregneash museum is set up similar to the Staunton Farmhouse Museum in Virginia in that the cottages are original cottages, which can be entered to check out the rooms. However, the Cregneash cottages are still on their original locations unlike the farmhouses in Staunton, which were disassembled and shipped to America for the purpose of being reassembled. However, like the Staunton Farmhouse Museum, the Cregneash cottages have live guides inside carrying on daily chores as if they were living in the days of the original villagers. As you enter, the guides will stop to explain the cottage and what is being done inside, as well as answer any question there might be. In the pic below, the turner was explaining to us which types of woods were commonly used there and which trees were indigenous to the area while he worked on a wooden bench.
The cottage next to turner’s is Harry Kelly’s cottage. Kelly was a crofter who spoke fluent Manx Gaelic. The language is rarely spoken now, but currently there is effort to revive it. Manx Gaelic classes are now being offered at some schools as electives for the children.
Harry Kelly died in 1935. It was from the furnishings in his cottage which help historians to recreate the furnishings in the other cottages with traditional items so that the museum could be open to the public in 1938. The dishes are only a display. Kelly’s cottage didn’t originally house or own all these items. The arrangement below is only for the purpose of showing what types of items were available to the Cregneash villagers at the time, but not meant to indicate that they all had that many items at all.
The guide inside was explaining what we might expect to see during Harry Kelly’s time. The fireplace behind her is where food was cooked. They used iron cauldrons and skillets. We saw some lead spoons. The vest the guide is wearing she made herself, by hand, using loaghtan wool, an ancient Manx breed of sheep. She also showed us a shawl she made which was also spun and knitted using loaghtan wool.
The tour guide explained to us how she had to get there early in the morning to start cooking the bonnag, which is soda bread. I think she’s holding about 2 or 3 bonnags in her hands in the above picture. They actually cooked soda bread a few different ways. The pic below shows the different ways their bread was made. We were given sample to taste, which was served with butter.
Harry Kelly’s cottage was basically just two rooms with a sort of an attic storage. It looked like wool items were stored up there and maybe some fishing net. Between the two rooms there were two doors opposite each other that could be opened to allow the wind to blow straight through. Apparently the purpose for that was to allow threshing to be done right inside the house. When the threshing was done, one or both of the doors would be closed to block the wind.
Above the entrance of the door was a type of
charm. It consisted of two branches bound together in a cross with wool and fastened above the door entrance. Er, I forget what the exact purpose was. . . But apparently this charm was common.
Harry Kelly was a bachelor, so after his passing, he didn’t have any children to pass on his cottage. So if was fortunately passed on to the Manx Historical Society.
The next cottage I
wanted to see was the weaver’s cottage. Unfortunately, the weaver wasn’t in, nor was the spinner, sigh. . . This was about as close as I could get to the loom.
Here’s a shot of one of their spinning wheels.
I know for those of us interested in fiber arts, it’s a bummer that neither the weaver nor the spinner were there, but it’s still nice to see their equipment.
Fortunately, there was a quilter in the next cottage who was present and available to share more info regarding the craft. I’ve dabbled with patchwork quilts myself, so was very interested to see what Manx quilts looked like. I as actually a bit surprised to see that they were very similar to American country quilts (notice the log cabins) and on occasion I could see a little similarities in Amish and Welsh quilts. Below is another example of their quilts. I’m not sure how it ranks in quality, but it did appear that they had a unique way of attaching the strips by folding it over and leaving a slight puff along the edge. This is a technique I had not seen before, and is unfortunately not very visible in the pictures I took.
Here’s another sample quilt that was hanging on the wall. The quilts I saw didn’t appear to be original Manx, but rather just samples made by contemporary locals of what styles might have been seen during those times.
Also, it appears that by the 1800s, more textiles were available, so quilts could be made from purchased fabrics, not only fibers the crofters made themselves. This is likely what accounts for the variety in colors and prints. I was told that the patchwork was commonly all attached and sewn by hand.
I was a bit surprised to see these colors below. I don’t recall seeing what the material was, but it looked like silk to me. Somehow I think these were just examples from the local quilters since I can’t imagine the simple crofters of the 1800s to be making quilts like these, which look more decorative than functional. Plus the books I perused on traditional Manx quilts had nothing like this in terms of vibrant colors. Traditionally, quilts were made from cloth salvaged from other discarded garments, and I wouldn’t expect to see anything this well color-coordinated.
Okay, that’s all for now. I’m not quite finished with Cregneash, so will continue another time.
Marlakins
