Lancashire Lantern

Joseph Gornall - Lancashire's "Mr Cheese"

 

 

 

Joseph made quality cheese and in 1892 patented the "Gornall Patent Cheesemaker".

His aim in designing a new cheesemaker, as the patent explains, was to reduce the amount of labour needed when draining the whey from the curd.

 

 He describes its use in “Lancashire Cheese-Making”: 

  “After letting the curd settle, fasten the cloth over the opening, and put on the perforated lid. Having taken all the water from the cistern, turn the cylinder gradually till the lid is underneath the curd….After being turned down one side, turn back and down the other side…The curd should then be sufficiently dry to cut into blocks, and be lifted out with the hands into the drainer".

 

 

It was a successful design, and was used by many of Lancashire's cheesemakers. The most popular model was the fifty gallon edition which cost £9.5s in 1903, although cheesemakers with a capacity of up to 90 gallons were also available.

Despite the number of “Gornall's Patent Cheesemaker's” in use during the first half of the twentieth century only a very few have survived. Joseph also designed and sold various cheese making tools including curd knives and cheese moulds, the tinwork being made by Singletons of Garstang.

 

 

Joseph encouraged farmers to keep detailed records “especially the temperature of the dairy and the milk at night, and the night's milk in the morning“ which had an important influence on the quality and nature of the milk and thus the cheese produced.