Times past recalled at unveiling of blacksmith in village of Emly

The little village of Emly came out in force on Saturday, August 20 to mark the unveiling of a sculpture by Diarmuid Condron of a blacksmith on the site of the Old Forge in Emly.

The County Cathaoirleach, Cllr Roger Kennedy, was on hand to perform the unveiling and also present was County Heritage Officer, Róisín O’Grady, as the event was part of Heritage Week.

Parish Priest, Fr Bernie Moloney, gave an interesting talk on the history of times past when the forge was operational.

Fr Moloney showed various items that would have been used in the forge and spoke about the registration of road vehicles at that time.

“In the days of the RIC, 400 years ago, if you were out with your horse and cart in the dark at night time, you could be stopped and questioned by an RIC officer, to know who you are, where you are going or where you are coming from, and who owns the horse and cart. You had to have displayed on the shaft of the cart the identity, not of the driver, but the identity of the owner and in this case William Leamy of Monard, neatly carved into the shaft.

“This was his registration plate and if you hadn’t a registration plate you would be brought to the RIC station and severely questioned. Here is a smaller version of a plate in the name of EF Butler, Tipperary Town. Butler’s was a hardware shop on O’Brien Street and this was attached to a cart owned by his hardware business. An example of registration of road vehicles from times past,” said Fr Moloney.

After the unveiling there was a family day in the Church car park which included a demonstration of horse shoeing by farrier, Michael John O’Riordan.

Michael John has shoed horses for some of the top names in the bloodstock industry including for the Queen of England and has also worked at this trade in Dubai.

He brought a very placid horse “Kate” for the demonstration and his Dad, Mike, held the reins while “Kate” was shod.