Mr Tinkler

Worked barytes mining, lead mining. Early life in village of Murton. Visits of German emperor. Details of mining. Housing and smallholdings. World war one. Eating "crowdie".

Location: Murton, Lunehead, Dufton, Scordale
County: Cumberland, Durham
AUD2004-1

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Transcript of audio:
(miners usually took food?)
Oh yes, carry your own food.
(and live on the mine for a week)
Yes, live there, all't week, and we had sort of beds but it was a rough sort of a life when I went at first, but we altered that a good bit. Why... used to carry a basin and a tablespoon, old men telled us, that had been used to it, and I said what do you want with a basin, well you can make a crowdy in that. You know how to make a crowdy?
(what's a crowdy)
Well you put some oatmeal in, some hot water, stir it up till its stiff, you know, then you put a bit butter and sugar in and eat it like that. There wasn't milk, no, the old man had some goats, we used to get milk sometimes. But um...they wasn't very popular, wasn't crowdies, there got to be other stuff, different, but old men had lived on them, hadn't they, a lot, crowdies, as they called them.
(what did you take up as food)
We carried, used to get various things, it would all be homemade, what you did carry, I don't know how you would do now, because baking and stuff isn't the same. You could get good baking and cheese and bread and stuff was made at home. Then there was... but crowdies, I think they weren't very popular, it was too <> a hot meal. But old men had lived on them a lot, hadn't they. We used to do that, and then things got to be different, you know, you had, there was more variety wasn't there, after, at one time.

Well, I've seen some rare carries on in them places. Some without any patience come, you know, they would eat all the first day. They soon learned. You had to make it spin out for the week. I once seen a man come from <>, with two lads, they were out, they had set off, they come on't Monday, they nearly ate me out, and they'd set off with chocolate and they were about hungered to death. They'd lost theirselves on't fell. I had lots like that used to come, lost theirselves. And all <> knew me and had come for years, used to call, they used to be all making that railway further down, you know, I've had as far as seven or eighteen of a night, stopping, put them, we had a place we had to put them in.

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