School: Curratavy
- Location:
- Corratawy, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: E. Ó Gallchobhair
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0964, Page 006
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- (continued from previous page)We had a tannery here in our district. It was sited in Derrynatuan. The workers of this tannery coloured the leather by cutting the bark off the trees and boiling it. When the old cattle would would die they would burn the hair of the skin with a chemical like washing soda. They wanted the leather very much because the used to kill cattle to get the skin for the tannery. They would kill some young cattle for it also. They used to put the skin into a machine like that of a machine for ringing water out of clothes.
The the skin was put into a tank made of stone slab and some stone slabs were put on top of the skin and the boiled bark was thrown on top of it. It was left in that state for several weeks. They would take it then out until it would harden and dry. They called it leather then. It was bought then by the shoemakers. In those days the shoemaker would go from (to) house to house to make shoes.
We had soap making here also. They made it in their own homes. When any of their cattle would die they would take the tallow and fat out of them and cut it up into small pieces and render in(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Padhraigh Mach Samhrain
- Gender
- Male
