3-065-823 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Women grinding corn in Ireland, 1874. 'The ancient and primitive task of reducing cereal grain to flour, with a simple handmill, has in many different ages and countries, during several thousand years of human history, been performed in the same manner by the industrious housekeeping sex...We cannot, therefore, be surprised to find the quern, or hand-mill, used by Irishwomen of the peasant class to this day...the upper stone can be raised or depressed, so as to make the friction greater or less, as the meal is meant to be coarser or finer...Two women generally work the quern, one sitting facing the other, so that they have the quern between them. Each in her turn takes hold of the handle, or sometimes both take hold when occasion requires. The two women can grind about ten pounds of clean meal in an hour. Among the Irish the hand-mill is called clough vrone, or "the stone of sorrow"...The corn is never shelled before grinding, but the grain and husk are ground together. When ground, the meal is sifted to separate the husk from the part to be used for food. The ordinary way of using is to mix the meal in its raw state with milk and make it into the consistency of stirabout. This mixture is eaten without any accompaniment'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.