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The organisers of the Ballinlough Castle Country Fair have brought
together a remarkable group of
artisans, all of whom have a
vested interest in woodlands and
the traditional crafts of
woodsmen. The pole lathe
is worked by the "Bodger" who
turns clothes pegs, made the
spindles for the chair and
stools spoons for the kitchen.
The charcoal burner whose
produce fires the blacksmith's
furnace and the smith who mends
the cartwheels and makes the
hoops for oak barrels.
 There
are the hurdle makers, their
panels used in house building
and for crossing bog land or
fording rivers in ancient times
giving us the Celtic name for
Dublin "Ath
Cliath" the ford of hurdles.
See the hedge layers who maintain the field boundaries
at the end of the winter. And
the coppersmith whose skills are
needed for making vessels,
fixings and even Celtic
jewellery. There too, the basket
makers who weave the wicker
baskets so familiar on the
fireplace filled with logs or
turf.
 Not forgetting, of course, the
thatchers who cover the artisan's houses
and their wood stores or "hovels" with
straw from the fields or rushes and
reeds from along the lough shore.
This is a truly amazing step into our
history made real by craftspeople who
still ply these ancient trades.
Something for all the family to enjoy,
participate in and talk about for months
to come!
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