It’s on with the donkey work for Clayton-le-Moors pensioner (From Lancashire Telegraph)

It’s on with the donkey work for Clayton-le-Moors pensioner

9:21am Tuesday 3rd November 2009

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A PENSIONER has given her doorstep a new lease of life after she received four rare donkey stones following an appeal in the Lancashire Telegraph.

Ada Gibson, 94, of Grange Street, Clayton-le-Moors, wrote a letter in yesterday's paper asking for the objects, which are no longer manufactured, to help her scrub up her step.

A donkey stone is a type of scouring block used mostly in the mill towns in the North of England.

They were once a common sight as houseproud women strove to keep their homes spick and span.

But manufacture ceased in the 1960s and they are now found mostly in museums.

Ada said: “I’ve been desperate for a donkey stone for a few years.

"I’d even started using ordinary stones from my garden but they didn’t work.

"I got so fed up that I decided to write into the paper to see if I could get one from somewhere.

“Lo and behold, a fellow from four doors down read my letter and came with a bag with four.

“I like to keep my doorstep looking nice. I started using donkey stones because my mother had and I like to draw half moons on each side of the step with the stone.

“I used to get them from the rag and bone man and use them every day.”

Local historian Simon Entwistle said: “At one time you would be guaranteed to see people around East Lancashire using donkey stones.

"Unfortunately they stopped being manufactured in the 1960s and are now quite rare and hard to get hold of.

"You might be most likely to see them in a museum.”

>>> Donkey stones

Donkey stones are scouring stones, named after the trademark of one of the earliest firms, Reads of Manchester.

The machine used for making the cleaning stones was called a ‘Donkey Mill’ and its design went back to Roman times.

The stones work like a polish, leaving a thin layer on the doorstep.

The stones were originally used in the textile mills of Yorkshire and Manchester, to provide a non-slip surface on greasy stone staircases and were available in three colours: cream, brown and white.

The basic material, a type of sandstone from Northampton called cotta stone, produced the brown colour, while the white stone came from Appley Bridge quarry near Wigan. The cream was a combination of the two.

Later, proud housewives took to drawing on their front doorsteps, which became a form of decoration and great competition between the women.

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