Old Crafts

transcribed at

Old Crafts  [duchas:4696761]

Pat Callaghan of Coolbock was a great creel and basket maker. He used to charge very dear because there were no other basket-makers at that time, and everybody used to go to him to get them made. Jim Flanagan was a basket maker also. He lived in Lachagh and he had no other way of living except

Old Crafts  [duchas:4696762]

by this work.
He used to get much work to do because the people at that time had to carry potatoes in a creel on their backs to the market. He is a long time dead now, but he is well remembered by some people.
In olden times thatching was a great trade. The people used to get a big needle made by the blacksmith and they sewed the thatch on the houses with a rope.
Firkin making was another great trade carried on by the people in olden times but none of these trades is carried on nowadays. The thatching that is being done now is not as carefully as in olden times. The men who did this work charged very dear because very few took such care with it.