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School: Muine Dubh (Moneyduff) (roll number 9222)

Location:
Moneyduff, Co. Leitrim
Teacher:
Pádhraic Ó Heádhra
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0199, Page 118

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0199, Page 118

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  1. XML School: Muine Dubh (Moneyduff)
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  3. XML “Folklore - Old Crafts”

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  1. Folklore - Old Crafts

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    How Hand turf is made.
    This is one of the old crafts the making of hand turf. First of all you get a good boghole with mud in it, get a shovel and rise the mud up on the bank in a big pile. Then the men would come up out of the hole and level a place to leave down a bed of mud. A few men would take off their shoes and stocking and tramp the bed of mud and another man would keep throwing water on it while doing so. They would tramp two or three beds of it as much as the man that was making the turf could do. Then they would get a barrow and wheel them out into a green field where the man was making them. He joins his hands together and rolls the mud up, then he shapes it into hand turf, he puts the [track?] of his five fingers into the centre of the turf and top and bottom are wider than the centre. Then they are saved like spade turf nowadays.
    Spinning and carding.
    When the wool is taken off the sheep it is taken in to the house and butter mixxed with it then it is teased before the fire to let the butter melt through it. Then you get your cards and put a piece of wool on one of the cards and rub it up and down as hard as you can against the other one until the piece of wool is fine and clean. She keeps at that until she has it all carded. Then she gets her spinning wheel and starts to spin, there is a spool on the side of the wheel and she keeps putting on wool until the spool is full of thread, then she takes it off and twists it as soon as she takes it off.
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    History Edit
    Topics
    1. activities
      1. economic activities
        1. trades and crafts (~4,680)
    2. objects
      1. clothing and accessories (~2,403)
    Language
    English
    Collector
    John Fowley
    Gender
    Male
    Address
    Kilmore, Co. Leitrim
    Informant
    Mrs Fowley
    Gender
    Female
    Age
    42
    Address
    Kilmore, Co. Leitrim