School: Cnoc an Éin Fhinn (Birdhill) (roll number 13991)

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1. Old Crafts

   

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   There was no machine for making candles in this area as far as the old people can remember. The only method for making candles in the old times was to collect a number of rushes and strip off the skin, and steep the pet in tallow which was obtained from the fat of a goat. Those candles were called paudeens and the cats often devoured some of them. Those candles would hold lighting for two hours but the light shown from them was very feeble. Soap-making was started in Kingstown bog which is quiet near Annaholty. It was started by two men named Mc.Conson and King from Waterford. My grandmother worked there. As the soap-making was not a success they turned the machinery into the use of making turf. The turf was dug in the raw state and thrown into the machinenery which resembled the present day stone-crusher. The sods came out shaped in lengths about twenty foot long. Those were cut with a knife and spread out to dry. It was afterwards clamped up and removed in wagons by means of a railway which ran from the bog to where the present railway is now. There was a siding there to hold ten waggons which the train from Killaloe would carry away when filled down to Waterford for shipment to England. There was an old woman named Mrs. Ryan living in Annaholty about thrirty years ago. She was the only only spinner that I heard of. She used to spin thread for making jerseys, socks, and stockings. This tread was taken to a weaver named Mr. Gleeson from Killaloe. He used to make lovely shawls which were sold at twelve and sixpece each. The material for manufacturing this fabric was obtained from the local farmers after

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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

   Thomas Teefey

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Coosane, Co. Tipperary

   Informant

   Michael Teefey

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   54

   Occupation

   Railway worker

   Address

   Coosane, Co. Tipperary