The Cart Shed

This building is called the Cart Shed. In the 1950s and 1960s. Eddie McCallum, the last tenant of Auchindrain, used it to store his cart. However, in the 19th century it was used as a wash-house.

The buckets and tubs used to wash clothes were made from cut-down barrels. These were bulky, and would have been difficult to store in the township’s small houses. Keeping these items in a communal space saved room in the houses, and also meant that washing clothes was a social activity. The women of the township would wash clothes together, catching up on news and gossip at the same time.

Currently, a horse-drawn potato spinner, a piece of machinery that mechanised the digging of potatoes, is on display in the Cart Shed. It was made in Glasgow by John Wallace and Sons Ltd, who were one of Scotland’s largest agricultural machinery manufacturers in the late 19th and early 20th century.