School: Ballyrahan, Tinahely
- Location:
- Ballyraheen, Co. Wicklow
- Teacher: Máiréad Ní Mheachair
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0922, Page 087
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- (continued from previous page)Tanning leather I
There was a place in Ballyrahan where they used to tan leather, about 70 years ago. It is not carried on now. They used to put the skin in big boilers in boiling water. They were left in them till the hair was all off. Then they put them through another process and then they made them into leather.
II
Over a hundred years ago there was an old tannery in Ballyrahan. You can see the ruins of it there still and the track which the horses made turning the machinery inside. There were a great deal of people working in it. The way that they used to tan the leather was by steeping the skin of the animal in lime water for a whole day to make it hard and to take the hair off it. Then it was flattend out and cut up in pieces and sold.
III
Long ago leather used to be tanned in Ballynultagh. There was(continues on next page)
