School: Borrisoleigh (roll number 590)
- Location:
- Borrisoleigh, Co. Tipperary
- Teacher: (name not given)
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0544, Page 172
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- XML “Firkin-Making”
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- Long ago the people in Ireland used to pack butter in firkins.
Every week the farmers used to make butter and sell it in the towns. The people that made the firkins were called coopers.
When the cooper was making the firkin he used sallow-rods for the hoops and ash for the staves. He had to make them very close so that the air could not get in.
When the firkins were made the farmers packed the butter into them and sold it to the buyers.
There is still a cooper named McMahon in Borrisoleigh.
- Collector
- Michael Prior
- Gender
- Male
- Informant
- John Prior
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 60
