Probably made at the end of the 19th century by Donald MacLean of Whitehouse, Cornaigbeg, this wooden vat (known in Gaelic as a ‘fiodhan’) would have been used until the 1950s to make cheese.
Standing 165 mm high and with a diameter of 250 mm, the staves are bound with two iron hoops. Holes have been drilled in the sides and base to allow the whey to drain out.
The curds wrapped in muslin would be put in the vat and the lid placed on top. This would be weighted with stones or screwed down in a cheese press for about a week.
Circular doilly 275 mm in diameter crocheted from white cotton with purple and gold lurex details, made by Isabella MacArthur (nighean a` mhinisdeir), Balephuil in the 1940s and given to Nan and David MacClounnan after their marriage in 1949.
Cardboard egg box. Brown cardboard lidded eggbox, 242 x 190 x 73 mm, printed with `eggs with care` and lines for sender and addressee, containing corrugated cardboard insert for one dozen eggs.
Every Tiree croft had its chickens in the old days and eggs were a useful way to buy things from the shops if you had no money. In the Second World War, the airmen on Tiree were nicknamed the Royal Egg Force because of their fondness for them.
