School: Castletown (roll number 8104)
- Location:
- Castletown, Co. Donegal
- Teacher: Clara S. Kingan
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1105, Page 225
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- XML School: Castletown
- XML Page 225
- XML “Trade - A Forge”
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- Our nearest forge in the town land of Moness is about a mile from my home.
The black-smith's name is Mick Gallagher. He is a man for jokes but is a very good workman all the same.
The forge is a very old one. It is not kept in good repair, but as it is the only one in the district Mick is always kept very busy for he gets a good many horses to shoe and he repairs a number of farming implements.
A blacksmith need to be a strong man as he has always heavy work to do, his work is also dangerous when he has young horse to shoe and they are always very wild.
I like to take a horse to the forge for as our blacksmith has no help he allows me to blow the bellows to keep a warm glow in the fire until he gets his iron hot.
The coal that is used in a forge is not the same as house coal it only keeps red while the bellows is used.
There is a great quantity of scrap lying about our forge such as old horse-shoes and pieces of farm implements. When our blacksmith has no new iron he makes up the old shoes to fit and puts them on the horses instead of new ones.
- Collector
- Robert J. Hastings
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Legnatraw, Co. Donegal
