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Taking home peats with Shetland ponies; the work of children...

Date September 1978
Track ID 81397
Part 1
Part 2

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1978.67

Original Tape ID

SA1978.067

Summary

Taking home peats with Shetland ponies; the work of children on the peat hill.

Tom Tulloch gives a full account of the work involved in taking home peats and muild [peat soil] with horses. He describes caaing [driving] horses loaded with peats. He describes the parts of the horse's rig and how peats should be stowed in the carrying meshies [woven mat containers]. The horses were grouped into threes with one child helping with each group. The children's bare feet were frequently hurt by peats or stones. There was much competition to see who could get the best day's work done.

Corn and hay was also moved with a similar horse rig. The mares were driven when taking peats but led when working with corn or hay. Muild was scraped up and taken home in straw keshies [woven baskets] and stored in a muildy hoose. There is a description of the materials for making keshies. People often pooled resources to work at the peats. Great care was taken when building the peat stack. Children caa'ed horses between the ages of seven and fourteen, i.e. the school years. A year's firing of peats took about five days to move and stack. Horses were given a break after three days but no such consideration was given to the children. Children were paid two shillings a day.

Item Location

County - Shetland

Parish - Yell

Island - Yell

Language

English, Scots

Genre

Information

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good