School: Finiskill (roll number 13075)
- Location:
- Finiskil, Co. Leitrim
- Teacher: Cathal Ó Floinn
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0219, Page 394
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- (continued from previous page)now make all possible haste to throw buckets of water on the shoeing. When cooled it contracts and fits tightly to the wheel.
The work of shoeing wheels is generally done in summer as this is the season in which iron is most likely to expand owing to the hot weather.
Thus when the shoeing is done during this season it will tend to become much tighter during winter when the timber of the wheels will expand according as they become wet. There is no local belief with regard to the sparks from the anvil but some people maintain that the forge-water is a very efficacious cure for warts.
A local tradition says that in olden times the smiths were immune from paying (income) tibute to the chiefs of their territory. The smith was, it appears, held in high regard both by his neighbours and his superiors owing to the fact that his services as an armourer and maker of various iron implements were in those days as well-nigh indispensable. People in ancient time were supposed to bring them gifts but this practice was never in vougue during the lifetime of any of the oldest residents of the district. Neither can any of them remember hearing their fathers or grandfathers tell of(continues on next page)
