The street
Donkey stone
For whitening the front step, every Friday.
- Made by
- Unknown quarry works, Manchester
- Date
- About 1950
- Material
- Pressed sandstone, cement and bleach
- Size
- 9 by 7 cm
- Cost new
- Two for a jam jar, from the rag man
- Came from
- Dorothy Merrin’s house, 2009
On view The street, on the front step. First floor.
Every Friday the front steps of Tenter Lane were scrubbed and edged in cream with a donkey stone, a block of pressed stone that left a pale chalky line. A clean step was the street’s way of saying a house was looked after, and a dirty one was talked about.
Rag-and-bone men handed the stones out in exchange for old clothes and jam jars. This one is worn to a curve on one face, which is the shape of a lot of Fridays.
More from the street.
Dolly pegs and their bag
Pegs bought from a hawker; the bag sewn by Ada, 1930sThe street, in the back yardCost new: a penny for a dozen
Dinner plate, riveted
Unknown pottery, Staffordshire, about 1900Made to Mend, in the long caseCost new: threepence; the mend, a penny
Inkwell and dip pen
Unknown glassworks, about 1915The schoolroom, on the teacher’s tableCost new: fourpence
Where to see it
The street, first floor.
You’ll find it on the front step, on the first floor. The lift is by the front desk.
Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:00, and until 20:00 on Thursdays.