Churn Back Time

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Got milk?

Rob Cross writes:

My restored and colourised 1925 photo taken by the famous Irish Jesuit priest/photographer Fr Francis Browne featuring the collecting of the milk churns in Cheeverstown, Templeogue, County Dublin…

Top pic via South Dublin County Libraries

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8 thoughts on “Churn Back Time

  1. Slightly Bemused

    Nice job! My mother grew up not far from there.

    When I was growing up (in Kildare) there were still a few small farms using churns to leave out their milk for the creamery, with the little landing stage down just outside the farm entrance so it was easier to load unto the truck. I rarely saw the full churns as they were left out early (before the sun could cause issues) or the collection, but sometimes they were there after the creamery dropped them back.
    Back in the early 80s we had the Big Snow, and one of the local farmers came into the town and gave each shop a churn of milk, as the dairy trucks could not get into the town. I remember going down with assorted brothers and sisters trailing my mother, each of us with a container of some form. The milk was ladled into each container, just as you see in period films. Tasted delicious too.
    This was in the days before farm-based pasteurisation and homogenised milk. I miss the layer of cream at the top of the bottles :)

    1. Janet, I ate my avatar

      I used to get up early to nick the cream for my breakfast, poke a few holes and blame it on the birds

  2. Paulus

    Churns were identified by a number on the side which was called out as the churn was tipped into a large measuring cradle in the creamery:
    I remember a creamery manager who famously knew each farmer by number.

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