School: Mághthobair (Mohober), Dúrlas Éile (roll number 7048)

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1. Old Crafts - Hair Spancel

   

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   Spancels were made from the hair of a cow's tail or a horse's mane or tail. The hair is first shaken up and twisted out very thinly about six feet long. It is then doubled and plaited. The length when doubled is usually three feet.

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   Language

   English

   Collector

   Ena Fitzgerald

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Ballintaggart, Co. Tipperary

   Informant

   Jack Cashin

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   48

   Address

   Ballingarry, Co. Tipperary

2. Old Crafts - Making of Barrels and Firkins

   

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   The men that made barrels were called coopers. This trade was common in our distric until twenty five years ago. There is a cooper living in my district and his name is Mr. Walsh of Jessefield, Kilmanagh, Co. Kilkenny. Up to a couple of years ago he made barrels and firkins. The barrels were made of oak or beech and the butter firkins of poplar wood. The timber was seasoned for a couple of months and ti was then thinned with a coopers axe called an adze. The hoops were made of sally. They were skinned and made into a circle with a simple catch. When the staves were shaped the hoops were put around them tightly to keep them together. The butter firkins were made about 3 1/2 feet high and a foot in width. The boards called staves were about four inches wide joined together with sally hoops.

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

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