Interview: Peatcutter Archie Campbell (Social practices)

I think, um, certainly it’s obvious that, eh, less people are, are, em, cutting peat just now. At one time, on the moor you’d see perhaps, perhaps six, seven people or, or more cutting. But now it’s very rarely you meet people on the moor cutting, of a day. Um, I suppose people’s, people’s lives have changed. They may have less time for cutting, cutting peat or, or these types, types of job. Certainly it saves money for you but it’s costly in terms of time. It does take time. The whole process, eh, takes time, and maybe people aren’t quite so happy to spend a large part of their time with this kind of, you know kind of manual, manual work, you know, after a long day’s work, perhaps, at their place of – at their office or, or wherever.

Um, but, that said, it’s a, it’s a good kind of change to your, eh, um, routine – just to be outside working, doing manual work is really quite healthy after a day perhaps being inside, so…

It used to be, um, very communal at one time. People would, would, kind of, would help each other. Uh, people would cut for each other at one time, and share, you know, share stories and share food as well, of course, and, you know, have a dram and, and so forth. Em, I guess that’s changed, um, a bit. Certainly in, in my time, people would be paid for their day’s work, so it wasn’t the case that I do yours and you do mine, but people would be paid for the work. There was a, em, going rate for a day’s cutting or, or – and, uh, people also would be fed as well. People would, would get their food and a dram, so maybe it was a kind of throwback to a time when people would just work for the food and the dram, so, so there’s perhaps elements of the past in it even, even now. But certainly, you know, usually people are paid, paid for their work.

Certainly for children, em, it, it was the case that men – it was usually, usually men who’ll cut. So I suppose it was perceived mainly as a man’s, man’s job. But the children would often help with, with the, the lifting, eh, making the small stacks, but, and as you , as you get a bit older then you’d be able to have a, have a try at cutting, but it was a kind of, perhaps when you’re, perhaps in your teens then you’d get your first chance to, uh, cut it. So I suppose you felt it was a, kind of, honour to be able to actually cut the, cut the stuff as well, and, and, to use the, the treisgeir, you know, the peat knife which – ours is a very old one. Uh, it was made, I think, back in the fifties, so it’s quite an old – it’s kind of a family heirloom almost, you know – it’s, it’s that, it’s that old. And it was often borrowed because it was, it was a good treisgeir. It was, you know, not too heavy, but, you know, well balanced.

Um, certainly it was social, and we often had people who would, who would cut for us every year, people – we’d certain people who would cut for us and, and it was always good, good to have a day out with them, and to share stories. You know, certainly you’d hear, you know, jokes and stories, perhaps, perhaps um a bit far-fetched sometimes, but, but, uh certainly, you know, it was part of it, you know, to be out there, you know, with, with other people, uh, cutting, and to hear their, their stories and – and then come back and eat together afterwards, you know, to, you know, have a dram and so forth. So it was a, you know, a good day.

I think just now the oil is not quite so expensive, but it does fluctuate, I think, and it, it, you know, falls and rises, and so forth. Uh, so, I think people may go back to cutting peat themselves. Certainly it’s a good back-up to other types of fuel. You can, you can have some, you know, oil as well. There’s people who might, eh, use oil in their kitchen but have a peat fire as well, so it’s, it’s nice to have the option of both. Em, by itself it, it gives a good heat off, but it’s not quite, maybe, as hot as coal and oil, and also of course it takes work as well. You’ve got to, em clean the fire out, and, and so forth, so it takes a bit of time, the whole process, but certainly it’s very nice to have a peat, a peat fire and, uh, but it takes work. Of course it does.