Donkey work – OED – n. the hard or unattractive part of an undertaking
The last post considered the working-like-a-donkey theme in the cotton mills of Lancashire. This post continues that theme; here the donkey enters the working-class home.
Donkey Stones
So, what have donkeys and stones got in common? Well, every week, usually on the same day, housewives (mainly in the northern English counties) would kneel at their front doors and scrub the step with a donkey stone. Epitomising the ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’ saying, women took pride in keeping their homes spick and span. Many also scrubbed the footpath in front of their front doors too. Woe betide anyone who didn’t participate in this ritual as they would be outcast and excluded from the community for keeping a dirty house.
So, what on earth is a donkey stone and where did it originate?
Donkey stones were made from ground stone mixed with water, cement and bleach. The finished stone looked like a large bar of soap and was wetted before scrubbing the stone step. Originally, they were used in cotton mills to clean greasy steps. The process must have had appeal because soon, housewives were using the stones to clean their own steps, so it’s most likely that mill employees started taking donkey stones home. Businesses manufactured the stones and one of the last to cease operating, at the end of the 1970s, was called Eli Whalley and Company in Ashton-under-Lyne (read more about the company here).
In the mid-twentieth century, housewives did not have to buy their donkey stones, but often received them in exchange for old clothes from the Rag and Bone man. Although there is a rumour that donkey stones are still available and for sale on Ashton-under-Lyne’s market. Maybe all that is old is new again, and there is a revival in traditional cleaning practices. And finally, why is a donkey stone called a donkey stone? Well, manufacturers imprinted an animal image on the stones – lion, donkey, pony – but it was the donkey title that persisted, quite possibly due to the donkey work that was involved in scrubbing a doorstep.