#stagskull

Waiting for the sun to rise so I can get some work done, so Alice took some pics of what we call the “middle room” of the cottage. It’s the room where most of the time, folks lived and entertained etc. Off to the side of it are the three bedrooms and the sitting room (which is where we live most of the time, because I love the open fire there) and the lobby leading to the kitchen and showerroom/toilet.

The Stanley range was once a staple in Irish (and Scots!) cottages. This one isn’t working..it needs a minor repair, but trying to get an engineer in is crazy hard as they are all busy this time of year. But since it just seems to be some missing bolts and screws on a plate on the top, I *might* give it a go myself. We’ll see. But it’d be great to have it working, because then I’d quit using the oil central heating..the range is solid fuel so we’d burn wood, hook it up to radiators, and you can see from the pipes going into the attic space, it used to heat the water too. I love it, think it’s beautiful and really want it working again. The heart of the cottage.

I had to remove the hides and my collection of swords from the front of it so you can see the actual range. Whilst it’s not running too I have horns and various bits and pieces on it as well.

The stag skull is one that has meaning for us. My husband Frans accompanied a ranger in Scotland on a cull and he brought that deerhead down off the hill himself, despite his disabilities. It was hard for him..he’d to keep stopping to rest, and the ranger’s dogs (labradors) kept “watch” over him til he got back on his feet. But he made it, soaked to the skin and with a whole (incredibly heavy!) stag head on his back.

My trade, before I retired due to health issues and becoming carer for my husband, was animal hide tanner. I tanned sheep, cow, goat and other pelts and hides for a living. So I skinned and fleshed the stag skull and cleaned it then made sure it was “sterilised” and bleached.

Deer in the Scottish Highlands are in pest proportions. Yes, they’re beautiful. But due to forestry fencing their feeding grounds have shrunk drastically. This leads to overpopulation of the herds with weak, diseased and malnourished deer.

I have a few deerhides I brought with me from Scotland, too, over the chairs and stashed in the spare room. I’ve yet to see any red deer here in Ireland, though I hear there are some. Hope I see them soon.

(note for those that might find this offensive: I’m not vegan or vegetarian, and hide tanning kept me and my children alive because it was my trade, my livelihood and I’ll never apologise for it. Humans, men and women both, particularly in harsh climates, have always hunted and made use of *all* of the animal out of respect. I like to think I, too, did so. Plus, the stag skull has meaning to me because my disabled husband spent effort he shouldn’t really have to bring it to me. So it has pride of place. )

The spinning wheel is Flemish, from Frans’ homeland of Flanders. It’s a beautiful wheel, quite old. When I kept sheep I used to spin my own wool using both spindle and wheels. The lamp is an oil lamp, and has given us light on many nights when the weather’s taken the power down. And the wool is Hebridean tweed..I’m knitting socks for my husband!