School: Knockaville (roll number 14185)
- Location:
- Knockaville, Co. Westmeath
- Teacher: C. de Búrca
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0730, Page 393
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Knockaville
- XML Page 393
- XML “Old Crafts - Forge Work”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- Long ago the local blacksmith made all the spades and slanes that were required in the locality.The spades were made of about one or one-and-a-half pounds of iron which was heated and flattened out to required shape by the use of a heavy sledge on the anvil. About four ounces of steel was treated in the same way heated and flattened out and then welded to the cutting edge of the spade.The haft or Feach was cut from the trunk of a seasoned ash-tree by the local carpenter, and either the blacksmith or carpenter attached the spade to the handle.Slanes were made in the same way as the spades only different in shape and the wing-slane was the one most commonly used in the district in former times.Nowadays wing slanes and breast slanes are used.(continues on next page)
- Informant
- Michael Gaffney
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Knockaville, Co. Westmeath
