School: Fortview, Clones (roll number 15300)
- Location:
- Clones, Co. Monaghan
- Teacher: S. de Bhál
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0946, Page 141
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- XML School: Fortview, Clones
- XML Page 141
- XML “Churning”
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- We have no churn at home but at my grandmother’s house there is a staff churn. It is about three feet in height and is shaped like a cylinder that is narrow somewhat in the centre.
The different parts are called the dash, the staff, the “copen” and the lid. The butter is usually made three or four times a week in the summer and in twice in the winter as the cows have to be fed indoors during the process of churning. If a stranger comes into the dairy it is an old custom in Clones and the district round about that the person in question must take a ‘brash’ before departing, there is an odd superstition that the person might take the luck away from the dairy.
The churning takes about an hour and a half, the dash being moved upwards and downwards. The person then lifts up the “copen” and can see little lumps of butter on the top. Water is poured in occasionally to keep it rinsed down. When the churning is finished the butter is in a lump on top of the milk.
The butter is taken off and put into a small tub. Then the milk is well washed out of the butter with spring water. The putter is put into rolls and different sizes.
