Friday 5 February 2010

Donkey Stones.

This display caught my eye today in a shop window in Hebden Bridge.

It was common practise once upon a time for a woman to mop her front doorstep and finish it off  with a layer of donkey stone.  I remember my mother doing this when I was a little girl in the 50s and early 60s. It looked lovely for a while then people would walk on it and it was back to being mucky again.

Nobody ever bought a donkey stone, you’d get them off the rag and bone man when he came round with his horse and cart, in exchange for your old rags.

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I’ve just been looking it up on the Net and it seems that donkey stones were made in Ashton and are still available there on the indoor market.

Kathleen.

2 comments:

Victoria said...

Hello was only the front step that the donkey stone was used on? xxx

John said...

I was looking at the same display today in Hebden Bridge explaining all about 'donkey stones' and 'rag and bone men' to Max - is that uncanny or are we just getting old?!!