School: Westland (roll number 8428)
- Location:
- Donore, Co. Meath
- Teacher: Mrs E.J. Roberts
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0706, Page 251
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- XML “Old Crafts”
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- Most of the crafts that were worked in olden times have gone out of fashion now.
In olden times candles were the only means of lighting used at night. There were no such things as lamps then, and old people tell us they did not give them very good light. People used to peel rushes and dip them in tallow and let them dry. They did this a couple of times till the candle was thick enough. When they were finished they were put into a candlestick that stood in the middle of the floor. The candle stick was a big wooden stand with a hole in it for each candle and thick sticks in the holes with a clasp on the top of them to keep the candle firm. The stand itself was about four feet high and a couple of feet broad.
Each house hold made its own candles. The people of this district stopped making these candles about sixty years ago.
Basket makers were very scarce in this district but a man named William Campbell from Billywood made potato baskets for farmers to gather potatoes in. He made them from sally rods, and(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Hilda Forbes
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Shancarnan, Co. Meath
- Informant
- Miss Meena
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Ballintlieve, Co. Meath
