Identifier | EERC/DG/DG4/9 |
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Interviewer | Muir-Watt, Julia |
Dates | interview: 2012-07-02 coverage: 20th century |
Extent | 1 digital audio file(s), 1 digital photograph(s), 1 papers |
Subject | Childhood, Education, Farming, Domestic Life, Working life, Emigration, Community Life, Death, Recreation, World War, 1939-1945, Whithorn, Monreith, Glasserton, Baldoon |
Interview summary | Biographical interview with John Wilson (b. 1938) of Wigtown. John starts by giving some information about his family history. His father, who was one of seven brothers, had gone to America before returning to work in the family business during the Depression. Of his siblings, five brothers stayed in the USA and one brother settled in Australia. At 16, John joined the family business to train as a joiner. By then, the business had been in existence for 120 years. He talks about the work of a joiner back then and how this changed over time. This includes information about the move away from agricultural work to working on houses which were subsequently used as holiday homes as fewer people were working on the land. John also talks about the role of the joiner as the local undertaker and reflects on how funeral customs and practice have changed over time. John talks about the move away from wood and into steel as a basis of many farm tasks, from wheelbarrows to animal enclosures. Although very young during World War 2, John relates some of the stories he recalls about the war and he remembered hearing planes going over towards Belfast. As well as providing detailed information about life in Glasserton, the work done in the joinery and the local smiddy, John also talks about the domestic sphere, living conditions, recreation, casual work, the decline of the Glasserton estate and its demolition in 1954, binders and threshing mills, the use of horses in farm work, the role of the Town Council and changes in Whithorn. Towards the end of the interview, John reflects that the biggest change he has witnessed in his lifetime would be in transport. When he was young, people could not easily leave their locality and so services were brought to them. This included travelling shops and designated buses to go to funerals or local beaches. He also talks about the local quarry, at Barsalloch Point, and recalls the work of the linesmen. |
Access | Open |
Usage Statement | We give permission for the re-use of our collections material for non-commercial purposes under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial 4.0 International Licence. |
Audio links and images | |
Transcript |