Mary Jane Kirby (1876-1946) worked in the kitchens at Warwick Castle in the early 20th century. In 1993, her daughter Gertrude Lakins (1905-1999) was interviewed as part of Warwickshire County Library’s rural reminiscence project. In this audio clip, Gertrude remembers her family eating chicken that her mother had brought home from the castle.
This audio clip has been created using extracts from a longer recording held at Warwickshire County Record Office, reference AV008/A112.
Transcript
My mother used to make everything. How she did it, I’ll never know, and do everything else. And then she started, as the children got older, as we got older, she was, went to Warwick Castle and cooked for the stable boys there. And of course, she used to bring little bits home. And then in the finish, she cooked in the castle herself when the old countess was there and she used to tell us a lot of stories about the Warwicks, you know. And I also remember going up into a tower at Warwick Castle to see the first aeroplane that ever went up.
When my mother actually went into the castle, as you know, um, all of them only used to eat the breasts of the chicken. Well, she brought all the rest back for us. We lived on the fat of the land. And we used to be able to go – oh, I forgot to tell you this – we used to go to the back of the Wool Pack. You know where the Wool Pack is? In Market Street? We used to take a big basin like that, and for a tuppence, we’d get it full of beef dripping with jelly that fat on the bottom. Now, that was good for you. Or was it? [laughs]
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