School: Newtownbarry (B.) (roll number 3633)
- Location:
- Bunclody, Co. Wexford
- Teacher: Bháitear Ua Giollarnath
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0892, Page 140
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: Newtownbarry (B.)
- XML Page 140
- XML “The Local Forge”
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
- 140The Local Forge.
Three are three forges in Bunclody. The names of the smiths are two Nolans and Donnelly. The Nolan blacksmiths are in the trade for three hundred years. The three forges are situated at a cross-roads. One of the forges has a door shaped like a horse-shoe. The roofs are slated. There are two fireplaces in them. The implements the smith uses are: the stamp, the buffers, the dog, the punch, the hammer, the shovel, the pincers, the horse-knife, the rasp, the cutter, the hardy, the tongs, the putchel, the fullerer, the touch, the sledge, the bellows, the ball-iron, the countersinker, the vice, the binding-stone, the drill, the compass, the foot-stand, the fanners, the calipers, the tyre-bender.
The smith makes parts of ploughs. He also makes shovels, spades, pick-axes and harrow pins.
Wheel-binding is done in the open air with a fanners. It is done at the back of the forge. The fir is lit all around the band of the wheel. The wheel is left on the binding stone and when the band is red it is put on the wheel. Then the band is prised down with the dog and hit with the sledge. Water is poured on the wheel to cool it. Then the wheel is set on the inside and it is finished.
If you wash your hands in forge-water it will cure warts.
The smith also burns lampards. First he burns them with a red iron and when they are burned salt is put on them.
When shoeing a wicked jennet they tie its hind legs near a wall and when it would kick it would hit its legs(continues on next page)
