DOI article:
Bell, Jonathan: Harrows used in Ireland
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49001#0214
202
JONATHAN BELL
Draught animals
From earliest times horses were the most
common draught animal used in harrowing.
This provides an interesting contrast to
ploughing, where oxen were widely used
until the sixteenth century. O’Loan suggests
that horses were preferred for harrowing
because the draught required was not so
strong as for ploughing, and horses were
faster than oxen (O’Loan 1964, 19). The
practice of attaching harrows to horses’ tails
is mentioned in several seventeenth, eight-
eenth and nineteenth century accounts
(Lucas 1973, 76-80). Oxen were sometimes
used in harrowing in the late eighteenth cen-
tury (fig. 2). This seems to have been part of
the attempt by some gentlemen farmers to
reintroduce oxen as draught animals, a prac-
tice widely discussed in late eighteenth and
early nineteenth century writings on agricul-
ture. One eighteenth century English text
advised against the use of oxen in harrowing
however, because of their ‘uneven motion’
(Fussell 1952, 38). There are references in
Irish literature of many periods to men and
women pulling harrows, the earliest prob-
ably being that quoted from the Annals of
Ulster at the beginning of this article. Recent
evidence for the use of women in pulling
harrows in east Ulster has been recorded
near Comber in county Down. A local
farmer, Mr. Jack McKibbin related a story
of a ‘butter-witch’ who was shot while escap-
ing from a vengeful farmer. She later tried to
explain her wounds by claiming that she had
fallen while ‘trailing a harrow’ (UFTM Tape
C77.36).
Conclusion
During the nineteenth century the types of
harrows manufactured in Irish foundries
multiplied. With little variation, most of
these followed designs developed in England
and Scotland. The different functions per-
formed by harrows were manifested in in-
creasingly specialised designs. Some imple-
ments ceased to be known as harrows, e.g.
cultivators, grubbers and horse-hoes. Disc
harrows, zig-zag harrows, spring harrows
and drill harrows were widely used on larger
farms by 1900. The evidence presented here
however is not intended to suggest that
changes in harrow construction were uni-
formly adopted throughout Ireland, each
new type rendering earlier designs obsolete.
This is clearly illustrated by the long period
during which harrows with wooden tines
were used (fig. 8). As mentioned earlier,
O’Loan suggests that such harrows were
already in use in medieval times. Wooden
tined harrows were still observed in the early
Fig. 7. Hinged harrows designed by John Rowan
of Co. Kilkenny, 1802.
Gelenk-Eggen, konstruiert von John Rowan aus
der Grafschaft Kilkenny, 1802.
JONATHAN BELL
Draught animals
From earliest times horses were the most
common draught animal used in harrowing.
This provides an interesting contrast to
ploughing, where oxen were widely used
until the sixteenth century. O’Loan suggests
that horses were preferred for harrowing
because the draught required was not so
strong as for ploughing, and horses were
faster than oxen (O’Loan 1964, 19). The
practice of attaching harrows to horses’ tails
is mentioned in several seventeenth, eight-
eenth and nineteenth century accounts
(Lucas 1973, 76-80). Oxen were sometimes
used in harrowing in the late eighteenth cen-
tury (fig. 2). This seems to have been part of
the attempt by some gentlemen farmers to
reintroduce oxen as draught animals, a prac-
tice widely discussed in late eighteenth and
early nineteenth century writings on agricul-
ture. One eighteenth century English text
advised against the use of oxen in harrowing
however, because of their ‘uneven motion’
(Fussell 1952, 38). There are references in
Irish literature of many periods to men and
women pulling harrows, the earliest prob-
ably being that quoted from the Annals of
Ulster at the beginning of this article. Recent
evidence for the use of women in pulling
harrows in east Ulster has been recorded
near Comber in county Down. A local
farmer, Mr. Jack McKibbin related a story
of a ‘butter-witch’ who was shot while escap-
ing from a vengeful farmer. She later tried to
explain her wounds by claiming that she had
fallen while ‘trailing a harrow’ (UFTM Tape
C77.36).
Conclusion
During the nineteenth century the types of
harrows manufactured in Irish foundries
multiplied. With little variation, most of
these followed designs developed in England
and Scotland. The different functions per-
formed by harrows were manifested in in-
creasingly specialised designs. Some imple-
ments ceased to be known as harrows, e.g.
cultivators, grubbers and horse-hoes. Disc
harrows, zig-zag harrows, spring harrows
and drill harrows were widely used on larger
farms by 1900. The evidence presented here
however is not intended to suggest that
changes in harrow construction were uni-
formly adopted throughout Ireland, each
new type rendering earlier designs obsolete.
This is clearly illustrated by the long period
during which harrows with wooden tines
were used (fig. 8). As mentioned earlier,
O’Loan suggests that such harrows were
already in use in medieval times. Wooden
tined harrows were still observed in the early
Fig. 7. Hinged harrows designed by John Rowan
of Co. Kilkenny, 1802.
Gelenk-Eggen, konstruiert von John Rowan aus
der Grafschaft Kilkenny, 1802.