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The results of Europe�s first audit of farm machinery have
been published in County Clare.
The Clare Heritage section secured funding from the Heritage
Council and Clare County Council to undertake the project
last year as part of the implementation of the Clare Heritage
Plan 2003-2007.
Produced by Clare County Council and East Clare-based consultants,
Minogue Associates - �Antique Farm Machinery of County
Clare� - tells the social story of the county�s farm machinery
from the early 1800s to the 1950s. The audit has also led
to the development of recommendations for the conservation
and posterity of early agricultural machinery items, such
as seed drills, harrows, ploughs and rollers, horse carts
and harvesting and haymaking machinery.
Mr. Tom�s Mac Conmara of the Clare Heritage Office said the
audit was timely and significant due to the present pace of
agricultural change in Ireland and the declining numbers of
farmers who remember working and using early machines.
He added - �We found that the artefacts resonated deeply
with the people involved - where, in many cases, items were
linked to uncles or grandfathers who were remembered using
them in previous generations. Ultimately, the attachment of
a social history to the artefacts added considerably to their
heritage importance - which, in the context of the project,
offered a more complete study of Farm Machinery in county
Clare.�
In all, 278 items were identified - with ploughs and tractors
being the most common. Unusual and interesting machines were
also identified - such as limestone rollers that would have
been quarried and made locally. These were only found in limestone
areas in the county.
A small number of thrashers and binders were also identified
- one of which was in use until the 1950s and was used around
Newmarket-on-Fergus, Tulla, Ogonnolloe and Bridgetown. The
study also identified a rare plough - the Minogue plough -
that was manufactured at the Minogue Foundry in Whitegate.
A handmade wooden donkey plough was identified near Inagh
that had been used until the 1980s.
Any information on existing antique machinery artefacts can
be forwarded to Clare County Council at - [email protected]
- for inclusion on a database. Alternatively, telephone -
065-6821616.
The complete �Antique Farm Machinery of County Clare�
study can be obtained from the Heritage section of Clare County
Council.
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