School: Gleann an Chairthe (roll number 13345)
- Location:
- Glencar, Co. Leitrim
- Teacher: Seán Mag Ualghairg
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0193, Page 211
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- About Fifty years ago there were no Creameries the farmers used to churn all the milk and sell the butter to the market in a Firkin.
A Firkin was made out of wood. It had wooden hoops. It was made like a barrel but it was narrow on the bottom and wide on the top. A man who was the maker of a Firkin was called a cooper.
There is one man living in Glencar who usd to do a lot of work making butts, firkins, and tubs. His name is Charlie Parkes. It is said that he as a good man for making them and that he was very quick at making them.
Some years later a Creamery was erected in Lurganboy.
Most of the farmers sent the milk to the creamery and the cooper trade died out.
Now a person who would see a firkin would be talking a lot about it for it is a rare thing to see firkins nowadays.
- Collector
- Brendan O Byrne
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 13
- Address
- Tomrud, Co. Leitrim
