School: Coillte Mághach (roll number 12520)

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1. Kiltimagh Parish Half a Century Ago (continued)

   

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   The maker also made door hasps and staples of a light calibre. This was generally the sum total of the nailers stock-in-trade but when necessary, which was not often in those days, slating nails were supplied to order.
   The nailers themselves fixed the price of their wares from which there was no deviation. "One price only" was their motto. In Kiltimagh we had four blacksmiths' forges and two nailers' forges. Bourkes's forge was situated exactly where the principal door to the convent is now and just beside it was a disused sand pit which was afterwards transformed into a saw pit for cutting lumber for house building. There was no imported timber then sold in the shops as there is now, and indeed there was little of anything else sold in them then with the exception of cheap porter and whiskey, flour, home cures, bacon, meal, soap, candles and a dark brown sugar.
   The forges were as a rule about twenty square feet in area roofed in some cases with strips of forest timber with the bark on. There was a kind of canopy of thin flags over the fire place to prevent the burning sparks from

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. activities
      1. economic activities
         1. trades and crafts (~4,680)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Máirtín Ó Cearbhaill

   Gender

   Male

   Informant

   James O' Regan

   Gender

   Male

   Occupation

   Postmaster