School: Baile Dháithí, Dunlavin
- Location:
- Davidstown, Co. Wicklow
- Teacher: Róisín Bhreathnach
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0914, Page 411
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- XML “The Cliabh”
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- My father used to make "cliabhs" for his own use, from hazel and sally switches - same as baskets.I often saw my mother put turf in a cliabh and put it up on her own back. No matter how soft the turf was, it would never break. All you had to do to empty the cliabh, was to lift your shoulder, and they all fell out over your head.These cliabhs were put on a horse's or an ass's back - a cliabh on each side. These were filled with turf and the horse could carry it up any steep. In the same way, putting out manure on the high land - the cliabhs were filled with manure and carried out in that way.The cliabh was even handier than the hand-creel, that has been used since - and are being used even yet. The hand-creel is a barrow with a creel on it. It is used in a soft or "contrary" place where you can't bring a horse. Two men carrying it, one in front and one behind. It is often used on a turf-bank, where you could not turn a horse. (I often carried a cliabh myself, too).
- Informant
- Michael Murphy
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 68
- Address
- Colliga, Co. Wicklow
