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P. 191
ubiquitous as the Galway hooker but nowadays locally
built and raced at regattas here all summer by dedicated
local crews. Working currachs abound all along the
Mayo coast and south as far as Connemara. Here the
working currach is still king, but for how long more
as fishing declines and ready-made boats inexorably
advance.
The Drontheim
The Drontheim © National Folklore In Donegal and elsewhere on the north coast, there is a
Collection UCD unique boat type, called variously a ‘drontheim’, ‘skiff ’
or ‘yawl’. It owes its origins to a boat type introduced
can still see this film each evening in the local hall at from Norway in the 18th century. For two centuries it
Kilronan!) In early medieval manuscripts Irish monks was the most common small fishing boat on the whole
are described as making journeys far out into the north coast. Like their forebears, these are sharp-ended
Atlantic, apparently as far as Iceland, perhaps even to ‘clinker’ sailing and rowing boats. Thousands were
America. built here once, modelled on examples shipped from
Trondheim fjord in Norway. Today only a few are left,
Their ancestry goes back at least to the Iron Age. An but replicas are slowly reappearing and can be seen
exquisite gold model of a currach, called ‘the Broighter racing at regattas in Inishowen and along the north coast
Boat’, dating from the 1st century AD, can be seen as far as Rathlin Island.
in the National Museum in Dublin. Currachs have Donegal is also home to many small, graceful clinker
disappeared from the rest of Europe, with the exception ‘punts’, which are still the county’s small coastal ‘jack
of England and Wales, yet Caesar crossed the Rhine and of all trades’. Of these the most elegant is the beautiful
invaded England in skin boats. Descendants of these Lough Foyle punt which can be seen spectacularly
skin-covered boats (now covered in black nylon or sailing every summer weekend in Lough Foyle. All
fibre-glass) can still be seen on Ireland’s west coast, both are built in Ireland’s oldest (1745) boatyard by the
fishing and racing at the many maritime festivals held McDonalds of Greencastle. Regretfully, today the
throughout the summer, rowed by the children of the McDonalds primary business is building fibreglass,
old men who once worked them at sea. twin-hulled fishing catamarans, reflecting the crisis at
the heart of Ireland’s traditional wooden boat-building
tradition.
In Donegal, amazingly five different currach styles
exist along its rocky coastline. Unique among these is a
currach called a ‘paddling currach’ which is propelled
by a single man kneeling in the bow. This currach was
the first to evolve from the ancient river ‘coracle’, first
recorded by Giraldus Cambrensis when he came to
Ireland with his fellow Normans in 1170! Other currachs
here include an example unique to Tory Island, another
(and Ireland’s most primitive currach), known as the
Dunfanaghy currach, has its ribs cut from rough hazel.
The remaining three types – the Fanad, Rossguill, and
Bunbeg currachs – survive, but only just.
Along the Mayo and Galway coasts heavy, fibreglass- Baltimore Wooden Boat © National Folklore
covered versions of the older skin boats have evolved Collection UCD
and are still fishing and transporting people, seaweed
and animals, in fact anything that needs to be moved
along the coast or in and out to the islands. Fine
examples can be seen on Achill Island. Here also sails
the mighty Achill yawl, a heavy work boat now brightly
coloured and carrying large dipping lug sails, once as
189
built and raced at regattas here all summer by dedicated
local crews. Working currachs abound all along the
Mayo coast and south as far as Connemara. Here the
working currach is still king, but for how long more
as fishing declines and ready-made boats inexorably
advance.
The Drontheim
The Drontheim © National Folklore In Donegal and elsewhere on the north coast, there is a
Collection UCD unique boat type, called variously a ‘drontheim’, ‘skiff ’
or ‘yawl’. It owes its origins to a boat type introduced
can still see this film each evening in the local hall at from Norway in the 18th century. For two centuries it
Kilronan!) In early medieval manuscripts Irish monks was the most common small fishing boat on the whole
are described as making journeys far out into the north coast. Like their forebears, these are sharp-ended
Atlantic, apparently as far as Iceland, perhaps even to ‘clinker’ sailing and rowing boats. Thousands were
America. built here once, modelled on examples shipped from
Trondheim fjord in Norway. Today only a few are left,
Their ancestry goes back at least to the Iron Age. An but replicas are slowly reappearing and can be seen
exquisite gold model of a currach, called ‘the Broighter racing at regattas in Inishowen and along the north coast
Boat’, dating from the 1st century AD, can be seen as far as Rathlin Island.
in the National Museum in Dublin. Currachs have Donegal is also home to many small, graceful clinker
disappeared from the rest of Europe, with the exception ‘punts’, which are still the county’s small coastal ‘jack
of England and Wales, yet Caesar crossed the Rhine and of all trades’. Of these the most elegant is the beautiful
invaded England in skin boats. Descendants of these Lough Foyle punt which can be seen spectacularly
skin-covered boats (now covered in black nylon or sailing every summer weekend in Lough Foyle. All
fibre-glass) can still be seen on Ireland’s west coast, both are built in Ireland’s oldest (1745) boatyard by the
fishing and racing at the many maritime festivals held McDonalds of Greencastle. Regretfully, today the
throughout the summer, rowed by the children of the McDonalds primary business is building fibreglass,
old men who once worked them at sea. twin-hulled fishing catamarans, reflecting the crisis at
the heart of Ireland’s traditional wooden boat-building
tradition.
In Donegal, amazingly five different currach styles
exist along its rocky coastline. Unique among these is a
currach called a ‘paddling currach’ which is propelled
by a single man kneeling in the bow. This currach was
the first to evolve from the ancient river ‘coracle’, first
recorded by Giraldus Cambrensis when he came to
Ireland with his fellow Normans in 1170! Other currachs
here include an example unique to Tory Island, another
(and Ireland’s most primitive currach), known as the
Dunfanaghy currach, has its ribs cut from rough hazel.
The remaining three types – the Fanad, Rossguill, and
Bunbeg currachs – survive, but only just.
Along the Mayo and Galway coasts heavy, fibreglass- Baltimore Wooden Boat © National Folklore
covered versions of the older skin boats have evolved Collection UCD
and are still fishing and transporting people, seaweed
and animals, in fact anything that needs to be moved
along the coast or in and out to the islands. Fine
examples can be seen on Achill Island. Here also sails
the mighty Achill yawl, a heavy work boat now brightly
coloured and carrying large dipping lug sails, once as
189
