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Coopers & Coopering

Demonstrating the coopering trade is Eamonn Creamer – Granard Cooper 

Coopers were skilled craftsmen who fashioned all types of barrels, casks and churns for use in the dairy and brewery industries, but now their skills have all but disappeared with the onset of initially, aluminium containers and later stainless steel containers, which are still used to this day. Over the decades there were some very skilled Coopers in Granard, Co. Longford, including a local Granard family who made the barrels/kegs for Guinness Brewery.

See the tools of the trade here

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Wooden Barrel

Butter Pail

Wooden barrels and casks were made by coopers throughout the country and were used in different ways and places, including, the farmhouse, the dairy and particularly in the brewery trade.

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Firkin

Firkin

When the butter making process was completed butter was taken to the market in the Firkin.  A Firkin was a British unity for the sale of butter and cheese.  1 Firkin = 56 pounds = 25 kilograms.

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Dash Churn

This is just one type of butter churn, there were many different types of churns for making butter. This particular type was driven by horse power and was a popular churn of its time, it was mainly used by larger producers.