School: Cnoc na Biolaraighe
- Location:
- Watergrasshill, Co. Cork
- Teacher: Dll. Mac Carrthaigh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0382, Page 091
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- XML School: Cnoc na Biolaraighe
- XML Page 091
- XML “Turf Cut in the Watergrasshill District”
- XML “Old Methods of Threshing and Winnowing Grain”
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- (continued from previous page)to cart it home and make a rick of it for the winter's fireing. When they had turf fires they used to roast the potatoes on the red cinders sometimes. They used to make potatoe cakes also from the potatoes.
- Long ago before the horse power threshing engine came into use the people used to thresh the corn with flails.
Two men used to do this with two flails. First they used to put two sheaves across one another; then they used to have every second blow until all the corn was out. The flail consisted of two stick's each stick being five feet long and they were tied together with a fong commonly called a gad. When they used to be working this they used to swing it over their head twice and then hit the sheaf. Then they used to winnow the oats with a bouran. This was made of sheep or goats skin fastened to a sally stick in the form of a circle. The corn could not be winnowed except on a dry and windy day. The person that used to hold the bouran of oats should stand upon a chair and leave the oats drop down and then the wind would blow away the chaff; and if the oats were dirty it should be winnowed a couple of times. At that time the price of the oats never exceeded more than 3/6 per cwt, until the time of the Boer War 1899.
- Collector
- James Curtin
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Watergrasshill, Co. Cork
- Informant
- Mrs Twomey
- Relation
- Relative (other than parent or grandparent)
- Gender
- Female
- Age
- 60
- Address
- Skahanagh South, Co. Cork
