Here are some hugely informative chapters from an old book by James Hornell describing the curraghs of Ireland. It’s a most impressive piece of work, and covers rowing and sailing curraghs, coracles and a kind of long paddling curragh variant I wasn’t previously aware of. If you want to get into curragh building, this book must represent the very large majority of what you’ll need to know.
I’d love to hear from curragh and coracle builders and to be able to publish photos reports and the rest, by the way – if this is you please let me know at gmatkin@gmail.com.
http://www.texascoritani.com/British_Coracles_and_Irish_Curraghs.pdf
Check the extract from J M Synge – it’s the kind of thing that needs to be read out loud with all the family gathered around.
Finally, there are some great contemporary curragh photos at
http://www.pbase.com/light_works/z_currachs
