School: Cuan Dor (roll number 1272)
- Location:
- Glandore, Co. Cork
- Teacher: Séamus Ó Donnchadha
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0309, Page 307
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- Most people grew a little flax every few years and it was used mainly for the making of thread. Sometimes people grew enough to do them for seven years. The flax when cut was put in a flax-pond and after some time it was taken out and dried. The next process was to to pull the hulls off it. To do this two straight sticks were tied together at one end, and the flax was pulled between them and that pulled off the hulls. That was known as a TLÚ.(Illustration)The flax was hammered with a mallet (Tuairgín) in order to soften it. The man of the house sat at one side and softened the flax with the mallet and tossed it over to the woman of the house who de-hulled it with the Tlú.The flax was then combed with a "hackel" which consisted of a board with a number of long nails protruding through it not unlike a hair-brush.
