School: Cúl an Dasain (Cooladawson) (roll number 1620)
- Location:
- Cooladawson, Co. Donegal
- Teacher: Pádraig Mag Uidhir
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1100, Page 32
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- (continued from previous page)This long term of apprenticeship was not to be wondered at when it is remembered that from the little humble [?] for men's and women's boots to the great five shilling nail and paling spike they were accustomed to hammer out and cut with the greatest exactness from the eye measure alone the various sizes of nails fourpenny nails, sixpenny nails, tenpenny nails, two shilling nails, half crown nails and five shilling nails so called because of the prices paid for each hundred of these nails in very early times but the value of the vaious named nails fifty or sixty years ago was only half the nominal price per 100 that is to say the 8d nails would be sold at 4d per 100 and so on.
The nailmaker was also a sort of white smith and in addition to his legitimate work he obliged the neighbours by making pig rings, putting a foot in a pot, repairing a gun, making a bird cage, etc etc.
His journeymen were not paid wage per diem but on the number of his products for which he received a stated or agreed price per 100 or per 1000. It was interesting to see them computing the amount of their days work. The nails were all counted in casts of three each so that 33 threes and 1 made 100. They could all be counted that way or if speed was necessary one or two hundreds were counted and placed in a scale then on the other scale a similar number would be placed and when the two scales were balanced so exact was the workmanship that there would scarcely be a difference of more than four or five in 1000.(continues on next page)
