Mollie Carnan interviewed by Kirsty Robertson in Newton Stewart, July 2012.
Mollie recalls the many uses of the kitchen in her childhood home on the Kilrodan Estate, Newton Stewart.
- Interviewed: 27 July 2012.
- Ref: DG10/5/1/2.
- © European Ethnological Research Centre.
KR: So it was a, was it an estate cottage that you were livin in?
MC: Yes. My father worked on the estate.
KR: What did he do?
MC: He was a forester. He was there for 55 years.
KR: And did you help your mum in the kitchen when you were wee?
MC: Oh yes, getting in her road probably (laughter).
KR: An what kind of jobs did you, do you remember what kind of jobs she gave you to do?
MC: Well we got to help her to bake – which was during the week. We got to help her to do the bakin, an that. Bring the sticks in, the coal in, go and get the water – carry it in and then we had to carry it back out usually.
KR: And, eh, did anything else go on in your kitchen, apart from the cooking? Did, was there any, did yer mum do the washin or the ironing or was there a bed in the kitchen?
MC: Oh she did the ironin in the kitchen but the washin was done outside – like in a big tub and a scrubbing board. But it was all done outside.
KR: An what kind of iron did yer mum use? Was it a flat-iron? Did she put it on the fire?
MC: Put it on the fire, yes.