Day 20. The Cellar.

Following on from cider-making yesterday, today we will look at the farmhouse cellar.
Most large houses, especially farmhouses, had a cellar where conditions allowed their construction. Sites close to the water table were impractical for cellars which would be regularly flooded.
Cellars were used for brewing cider and ale,  curing meat and often maturing cheese. Their underground location gave a consistently cool temperature. Joints of pork and sides of bacon, produced from the farm's pigs, were cured in large tubs of salt to provide a supply of meat lasting several months. Brewing and curing meat were essential skills on any farm, and were often a woman's job.

                Barrels of fermenting cider. The stone floor and walls kept the temperature constant .

 

The wide steps leading into the cellar, covered by a grating, were used to bring the barrels of cider inside once they were filled. An elaborate system of ropes around a post outside allowed the 55-gallon barrels to be safely lowered down.