School: Currycahill (roll number 11301)
- Location:
- Currycahill, Co. Longford
- Teacher: Mrs. A. Wilson
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0766, Page 007
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- XML School: Currycahill
- XML Page 007
- XML “Crafts of this Townland”
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- The only crafts known in this Townland long ago were the making of Creel and baskets, straw mats, and rush candle making.
The creel and basket making is carried on to this day, they are made from Willow rods. The creels are made by standing strong rods in the ground in a square and plaiting lighter ones in and out through them until it is about two foot long, then a square bottom is plaited in. There are no handles put on them as they are generally carried by putting a rope through and slinging them over the shoulder. The man who usually makes them is Charlie Scanlon.
The potato baskets are made on a hoop, strong rods are tied on lengthwise on the hoop to form ribs then lighter ones are plaited in and out through them.
The mats were made by plaiting straw. Some people used them for sleeping on long ago. The rush candles were made by peeling the green skin of strong rushes only leaving a small green strip to keep the white to-gether, this was dipped in some kind of fat and then left to dry and this was used for light.
- Collector
- Patty Lackey
- Gender
- Female
- Age
- 12
