Dec31
The curraghs of Ireland
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.thisbetterworld.org/…/British_Coracles_and_Irish_Curraghs.pdf
This link is taken from the curragh enthusiasts’ page:
http://www.thisbetterworld.org/cgi-bin/twiki/view/Currachs/WebHome
Check the extract from J M Synge linked near the top of the homepage. 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.westclarecurrachs.com/
Canoes, Locations, Racing rowing and paddling, River boats, Small boats, Working boats
Dear Gavin,
You have done a great service for those interested in attempting to build a curragh by posting Hornell’s desings!!! Thank you so much.