Culm Crushers Array by Michael J. Conry

Description

This book covers an important aspect of industrial archaeology practiced in certain parts of Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries. It describes the history and folklore of edge-runner grinding stones, which were mainly used for mixing culm (anthracite slack), sticky yellow clay and water so that the culm could be made into culm balls and burned as a domestic fuel in a ‘raised hearth’ grate. They were also used for grinding corn, grinding bones to make fertiliser, grinding chalk for the flour industry, grinding mortar and rendering material for the building industry. These culm crushers or grinding stones, which were drawn around in a ring by a horse or donkey, only occur in the Barrow River Valley in the south-east of Ireland in the vicinity of the Castlecomer coalmining district.