School: Cloonacool (roll number 4802)
- Location:
- Cloonacool, Co. Sligo
- Teacher: Seán Ó Blioscáin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0171, Page 087
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- For the schoolboy the year was divided not into the four usual seasons but into seasons distinguished by the games played. From 1st February to St Patrick day was the season for marble playing.
"Tops" were in season from 17 March to May Day: Handball was played from that to November when football took its place.
Boys held carefully to this a division especially as far as the marbles and tops were concerned. A lad caught playing marbles after March 17th would feel like a fashionable lady in a last years hat.
Marbles:-The season for marbles opened on the first of Spring. In this part of the country however no one spoke of "Marbles" they were known on "Taws"
The "Taws were of three classes. In this part were the ordinary marbles or taws, black , blue, green, etc. In every set of such taws there would be one or two very small ones. These were known as "Droleens". In the second class was a much bigger marble, usually brown in colour, called "the crock". In the third class were glass marbles of various colours. There was usually a more or less definite scale of values for these. A "Crock" was held to be worth from three to five ordinary marbles. While the glass "Taw" would exchange from five to seven of these.
(?) Methods of playing:- There were two recognized methods(continues on next page)
