Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (5.1984/1987)

COMMON IRISH PLOUGH TYPES

87

From the point F to the
handle point C is 2 ft 6 ins ( 75 cms)
From the base line H to the
beam point A is lftOins( 30 cms)
Ditto the base line I to the
handle point D 3 ft 6 ins (105 cms)
D between the handles
to G 3 ft 0 ins ( 90 cms)
Length of the sole E connected
to the cross (breast) 1 ft 6 ins ( 45 cms)
The measurements given for the elevation
showing the mouldboard were:
(Fig. 2 No. 2)
From the cross at the end
of the share A to the end of
theriestB 2 ft 6 ins ( 75 cms)
Ditto to the end of the
spall C 2 ft 9 ins (82.5 cms)
Ditto to the lowest point of the
mouldboard D 3 ft 0 ins ( 90 cms)
Ditto to the end of the mould-
board E 3 ft 4 ins ( 100 cms)
From the end of the shell board E
to the outside of the left
handle at F 2 ft 6 ins ( 75 cms)
(Thompson 108-109).
In a recent article on plough types in Ireland,
J. Bell has classified a surviving example of
an early nineteenth century plough from
Moira Co. Down as a version of the Old
Scotch plough. He suggests that although
the existing data does not allow close com-
parisons to be made between the Old Irish
long beamed plough and the Old Scotch
plough, the flat wooden mouldboards and
upturned beams do imply close similarities
(Bell 47). The Scotch plough referred to by
the agriculturalist Sampson in 1802 would
appear to support this view. He remarked of
the plough types in Co. Derry that, ‘that in
common use is of the Scottish model; the
beam and the head are long and heavy’
(Sampson 185). However, where compara-
tive analysis has been possible the evidence
has revealed some structural and technologi-
cal differences, not only between the Old

Irish long beamed and Old Scotch ploughs,
but also between ploughs within these broad
types. The cases examined here are the
Meath, (Fig. 2) Kilkenny, (Fig. 1), Moira
and Derry ploughs.
The construction of the Meath plough
mouldboard differs from the Moira and Kil-
kenny ploughs. Lack of descriptive detail
does not allow comparisons to be made with
the Derry plough. Thompson described the
construction of the Meath plough mould-
board:
The shell board, so called in this country ... is
composed of three pieces, fastened to the cross
(breast) and handle by wooden pins; the lowest is
very small, and runs into the share, which is in-
variably made of cast iron, the next is somewhat
broader and longer, and projects farther in width;
the third is considerably the broadest (Thompson
109) .
Unlike the Meath plough the Moira plough
mouldboard was made from a single piece of
wood. The Kilkenny plough mouldboard
was also made from a single piece of wood.
However, the diagrammatic evidence shows
the Kilkenny plough mouldboard as a left
sided mouldboard, the Moira and Meath
ploughs having right sided mouldboards.
The Moira plough has a permanently fixed
ground wrest at the bottom of the mould-
board which runs the length of the board. It
is not possible from the documentary source
to ascertain if the Kilkenny plough had a
ground wrest. The Meath plough does not
have such a fixture, although Thompson re-
ferred to the short bottom section of the
mouldboard as the ‘riest or rest’ (Thompson
110) . Interestingly, he noted that ‘for sum-
mer ploughing an additional board is gener-
ally nailed to the outside to make it cast up
the clay higher’ (Thompson 110). With the
spread of drill culture in Ireland during the
nineteenth century, the use of a temporary
board or wrest on some plough types to