School: Balla (C.)
- Location:
- Balla, Co. Mayo
- Teacher: Katie M. Walker
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0096, Page 1
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- XML School: Balla (C.)
- XML Page 1
- XML “The Village Forge”
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- The village forge is situated at the crossroads to the north of the town. A forge is generally built at a crossroads is some other central place so as to be convenient for people who come from the neighbouring villages to get their horses and donkeys shod.
The forge is a low-sized slated building. There is a high arched door with two little hobs on either side, leading into it. The interior of the forge is not very large but the fire and the bellows take up a lot of space.
Usually only one man called the blacksmith works in the forge. Occasionally he needs help. Ms. Keville owns the forge being in the family for two generations. Mr. Keville is a hard-working industrious man. As well as shoeing horses he also mends farm implements, but he does not make them. He makes kitchen utensils such as tongs, smoothing-irons, and pot-hooks.
The chief implements which the blacksmith uses are, the bellows, the anvil, the hammer, and the pincers. The fire is always alight because in order to be able to bend and twist the different articles of iron into shape they must first be reddened. The bellows are used to blow the fire(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Katie M. Walker
- Gender
- Female
