Author: Sue Greig
These days residents of Caerlaverock Parish do their food-shopping in one of the many supermarkets in and around nearby Dumfries – or in the local village shop. But it wasn’t always the case.
Until the late 19th century, folk were largely self-sufficient and needed very little from the town except salt and latterly, sugar, tea and coffee.
Oatmeal was produced in every village. The mill at Bankend Village which ground oats into oatmeal closed early in the 20th century when milling began to be done on a large scale.
Cattle were killed at the back-end of the year and the meat salted down for the winter. Most families kept a pig and virtually every cottage had its own pig-house. Salmon was abundant and often eaten twice a day. Farmworkers were traditionally paid partly in salmon and bitterly complained if they were fed it more than twice weekly. A barrel of salt herring was often laid by for the long winter months. At one-time herring were said to have been so plentiful in the Nith at Glencaple that farmers carted them off to the fields for manure. Sadly, there are no longer shoals of herring in the area and salmon stocks are in decline.
There was generally milk enough and buttermilk was a favourite drink. Each village had its own ‘sweetie shop’ selling home-made toffee. Most villagers grew their own vegetables in kitchen gardens.
Even if nowadays most of the food eaten in the parish comes packaged and vacuum-packed from supermarkets, the tradition of good home-cooking and baking remains.
With thanks to Sue Greig for this contribution