If I had a hammer | Blacksmithing at the Ulster Folk Museum

On St Patrick’s Day, while the rest of Northern Ireland appeared to be either celebrating or causing trouble, the Chapple Family decided to head to the relative quiet of the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum [Facebook | Website | Twitter]. Well … we thought it would be peaceful! It was actually packed and the museum had put on a fantastic display with most of the available houses and craft areas being staffed. Although we are frequent visitors here, it is a relative rarity to see the rural forge open. Seeing a working blacksmith brings back memories from my early youth – travelling with my grandfather to get a plough horse reshod through to my own unskilled attempts to hammer hot metal into shape in the metalwork classes at Athenry Vocational School and Gulag. Seeing it done well is quite a treat! I’ve also got a new phone that appears to automatically create animated gif (Graphics Interchange Format) files. In the fast-moving world of imaging technology, they seem almost quaint … very 1996! Nonetheless, they still possess a certain charm and I thought I’d share them here! … I hope you enjoy!






If you’ve not already had enough of St Patrick’s Day, check out my review of Abarta Audioguides’ latest release: Patrick Six Years a Slave [here] and then go buy it [here].
Location: Cultra, Holywood, North Down BT18, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Three Billboards Outside University College London: A case of approved plagiarism by Prof Andrew Bevan et al.

Image
Introduction The oft-recited adage is that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Going by this logic, there can be no higher praise from an academic than outright plagiarism of your work. I have had recent cause to be on the receiving end of just such praise and I can assure you, dear reader, that it doesn’t feel like a compliment at all. In fact, it sucks. I decided that, rather than meekly accept it, I was going to fight back for the recognition due to my work. To this end, I reached out to the two universities involved (University College London and Plymouth University) and the publishing journal (PNAS) and asked them to initiate investigations into the conduct of their employees/authors. I trusted that these institutions would be keen to ensure that their academics adhered to the highest standards and that any deviation would be met with swift correction. I was wrong and my trust was sorely misplaced. Until now I have only really discussed this issue with my cont
Read more

The dreaded first test post!

Image
An irregularly updated blog about archaeology and related madness! ... might just be good! ** I'm always looking for guest writers! So if you have something that you want to say about archaeology, please get in touch! ** [** If you like any of the posts on this blog, please consider making a small donation. Each donation helps keep the Irish Radiocarbon & Dendrochronological Dates project going! **] <A HREF="http://ws.amazon.co.uk/widgets/q?rt=tf_sw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=GB&ID=V20070822%2FGB%2Frobmchaarc-21%2F8002%2Fb7e77064-bfea-4ba8-954d-a415ec05ad0c&Operation=NoScript">Amazon.co.uk Widgets</A>
Read more

"Always remember to draw the swastika turning to the right": Some thoughts on swastika directionality in Early Medieval Irish Art

Image
Swastikas are, for a number of reasons, endlessly fascinating symbols. Like all symbols, they are only invested with the meanings we give them. Otherwise they are just little shapes and drawings that mean nothing in and of themselves. Owing to its long history and brief (if traumatic) association with Nazism, the swastika probably has a stronger resonance than most. You won’t spend long on the internet attempting to discuss the swastika before someone, trying to be helpful, notes that the Nazi version rotated counter-clockwise (elbows pointing left) and was bad, but the good Buddhist/Hindu version rotated clockwise. They may be trying to be helpful, but they are invariably wrong. It’s true that the version Adolf Hitler designed for the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei only went one direction: counter-clockwise. What’s wrong is that not all other ( i.e. non-Nazi) swastikas turn the opposite direction (elbows pointing right). Rather than dutifully plod through a debun
Read more