Anglo-American
Jonathan >
Over the years, this site has featured a number of artefacts found on our croft. This find – an Anglo-American oil barrel – didn’t take much finding, since it has been rolling around Home Park (the field between the road and Carrick and the sea), all the while we’ve been here, and from the evidence and circumstances, we think it’s likely it came here, full of petrol, in the 1930s. Despite it being subjected to decades of rain and salt-spray, the galvanizing is still in good condition, very little corrosion, and the only holes are those that are those designed to be there.
During out time, it’s served (on it’s side, and sunk slightly into the ground) as a shelter for a nesting goose, but these days the geese find more natural shelter among the long grasses and other vegetation we’ve promoted, and this barrel has fallen out of use. Even so, we’re reulctant to part with it : if nothing else, it’s a conversation-piece for guests staying at Carrick!
Sure is!
Add a piece of glass to the top, and you have a table with a great history. 🙂
J > We have two tables made just that way in the Txoko at our house in Navarra. There’s a difference though : the barrels there are made from big wooden wine barrels. It’d be a pity to sit down to a meal at a table which still whiffs of petrol! (No, seriously, there’s no whiff of petrol – not after 80 years or so!)