Time for a snack - The quarry canteen

Time for a snack - The quarry canteen

About 1900, works canteens started to be set up in large-scale quarry operations, in which a female canteen operator provided a hot meal at lunchtime, or the workers could warm up food they had brought with them. The canteen was also a room to warm up in, since the workers in the quarry and the draughty and primitive stone cutting huts were virtually unprotected against the weather. Many stories have grown up about these canteens, focusing on excessive consumption of alcohol and »Saint Monday«. The vast majority of quarry workers couldn’t afford – and simply did not want – appropriate excesses. Nevertheless, clichés, such as those about the brawling and hard drinking quarry workers, persist to this day.