Hand carved stone troughs/planters
If you are from northern Europe you will have seen many similar examples of stone animal troughs being used as garden or patio planters.
Very attractive they are too and often in a size that will support small trees and large shrub’s.
This is how we are used to seeing them in Portugal empty and unused.
They may make very nice garden and patio planters but what was their original purpose?.
Obviously it takes a huge amount of work to chisel-out by hand a piece of rock into the oblong shape and then carve out the internal cavity.
Originally they must have been very expensive and many have been handed down the generations.
Here are two that we took out of an ancient stone house that we were demolishing.
You can see that they have a well fitting wooden lid on them even after all this time (well over a hundred years)
They were obviously looked after by the many previous owners.
They were used to store and cure a prized and expensive position. The rear hams off the family pig!
Filled with sea salt they were used to cure the meet. The stone keeping the contents relatively cool and rat proof. The hams would be regularly turned and covered in dry salt and eventually become Presunto. After curing they were often hung up in the smokey external kitchen to dry out completely and acquire a lightly smokey flavor.
If you want some hand carved stone troughs for your garden we may have some for sale so please contact us at Castelo Construction with your requirements
https://www.casteloconstruction.info/tag/hand-carved-stone-troughs-and/
https://www.casteloconstruction.info/tag/carved/
http://www.casteloconstruction.com/property/watermill/index.htm