DETAILS of daily life are revealed in the old Recollections of Lockerbie book, by solicitor Thomas Henderson.
Henderson was fond of sharing information about how life was then and previously. In one extract, he writes about the cost of living during his own childhood: “It appears to have been very cheap but money was scarce.
“Matches were a penny halfpenny per dozen boxes and for a few pence one could buy a box of matches, an ounce of black twist tobacco and a clay pipe. In some of the public houses clay pipes were given free on Saturdays.
“Eggs in the spring were sixpence per dozen and housewives could cure their own bacon at less than eightpence per pound.
“Jobbing gardeners charged fourpence per hour.”
Mr Henderson notes that nutmeg was used to flavour tea and on most tables could be found a small grater, adding: “I think the nutmeg was supposed to cure rheumatism and was used for that purpose.”
Men carried toothpicks, he said, or used the blade of their pocket knife. Many homes still used spits to roast meat as ovens were only just coming into use. And candle making was still commonplace in the home, as the author explained: “An old teapot was sometimes kept beside cottage fires into which pieces of fat were put. When full, the fat was melted and a candle made.”
Many households in the town kept their own cow, and they all grazed them in the same field, which is now Sherwood Park. Back then it was called the Cow Company Field. “When the gate was opened in the evening they all came out and as they wended their way up the street each instinctively turned into its own entrance,” it is written.
