The chances are that ‘donkey stones’ don’t feature in many people’s household cleaning routines today. But in the not too distance past, you could find yourself the subject of neighbourly gossip if your house was without a freshly stoned doorstep.

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Made of limestone, cement and bleach, these small blocks were used for cleaning stonework such as flag stone floors, front door steps and window sills. They are a symbol of Lancashire and Yorkshire’s rich industrial heritage.
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Donkey stones were originally used in textile mills to provide a non-slip surface on greasy stone staircases. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, they were adopted by housewives as the ideal way to keep their front door steps looking like new. The step would be washed first to remove soot and dirt and then the donkey stone, mixed with a little water, would be rubbed along the edges. 'Doing the step' was an ideal occasion for gossip between neighbours, as well as a source of rivalry. It was not unusual for a proud housewife to clean the pavement in front of the house too. It was a chore often bestowed to children at weekends.

The name ‘donkey stone’ comes from the trademark of a donkey used by Reads of Manchester, who were among the first companies to produce the stones in the nineteenth century. Donkey stones were very cheap to buy and people often got them free from their local rag and bone man in exchange for old items. The stones came in white, cream and brown, with cream being the most popular colour around Manchester.

One manufacturer of donkey stones was Eli Whalley and Co. which was founded in the 1890s in Ashton-under-Lyne. Whalley continued the animal theme, choosing a lion as his company trademark. The inspiration came from his many childhood visits to Belle Vue Zoo.
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Eli Whalley and Co. was based on the old wharf of the Ashton and Peak Forest Canal meaning the stone and salt could be delivered by canal boats. The large chunks of stone were crushed in a stone crusher then mixed with cement, bleach and water in the large pan to form a paste. The paste was then transferred to the work bench where it was formed into a block using the wooden boards and cut to make two and a half dozen stones. Finally the stones were stamped with the 'lion brand' moulds before being transferred to racks to dry. Production peaked in the 1930s when 2.5 million donkey stones were made every year. Placed end to end they would have reached from Ashton to Blackpool and back. Eli Whalley was reputed to have built himself the finest house in Ashton from the profits of his business.
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Demand gradually fell over the following decades. The decline of the cotton mills removed the main bulk buyer of the stones and changing social trends meant it was no longer seen as essential to have a donkey-stoned step. By the time of its closure in 1979, Eli Whalley was the world’s last manufacturer of donkey stones.

A selection of donkey stone making equipment including the large stone crusher and lion brand moulds can be seen on display at Portland Basin Museum. Every now and then someone will ask where they can buy donkey stones, keen for this once well-loved local tradition to avoid extinction.

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