School: Cluain Eich (roll number 9942)
- Location:
- Cluain Fhéich, Co. Liatroma
- Teacher: Sr. Ó Donnabhair
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0219, Page 192
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- XML “Crafts - The Scutching”
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- (continued from previous page)butles to break up the flax. After this it had to be tied up again in large sheaves with all the rough stuff taken out. Then again there had to be parties gathered to scutch - women and girls and there would be great excitement to see who would have the most count of flax scutched in the evening. That was only a rough scutching and it would be tied up in dozens with twelve of what they called "streaks" in each dozen.A scutching stick is about three feet in height and one foot in breadth and there is a short piece of the same wood fixed onto the bottom with three rings. It was necessary to put your two feet on the two lower rungs. The scutching handle is made from very hard timber, it is quite thin and flat and about one foot in width and is over two feet long. It is made very sharp on each side with a very nice handle on one end of it.The flax has to get a second scutching before it is cleaned and fit for the market. Some of the fairly well-to-do farmers used to take it to the mill and have it dressed and cleaned from there. The mill scutched flax always went a higher price than the hand scutched flax.It was not a very paying crop, so it gradually died out. There is no one growing flax in this district nor any of the surrounding ones now.
