Recording milk churn stands

Despite being disused since the 1970s with the introduction of milk lorries, milk churn stands can still be found along Irish road sides, especially in counties like Kilkenny, Tipperary and Cork. They were used since the introduction of co-op creameries by farmers who left their full milk churns on them to be picked up on the way to the local creamery. Later, the churns were returned with skimmed milk, other co-op products and the latest gossip from the creamery.

Surviving milk churn stands in Ireland are in all sorts of states ranging from lovingly restored with milk churns on top and explanation panels on the side to completely overgrown.

Since March 2023, international crowd sourced efforts have been made by volunteers on the OpenData platforms OpenStreetMap and Wikimedia to record them in countries like Ireland, Finland, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand and others. This is a great way to be part of a world wide project and to record everyday history of rural Ireland. Maybe we can even push the records in Ireland beyond the over 400 already recorded in Finland!

You can help by following the video tutorial linked below on how to photograph and upload the images to Wikimedia.

You can also find out how many are already recorded on OpenStreetMap by clicking the link below.