The Old Irish Blacksmith's Furnace (concluded)

We are now in a position to draw our conclusions—to give the shape and material of the furnace, and show how it was made. At the back of the fire stood upright a small flag-stone, with a hole in it for the pipe of the bellows—exactly like the hole for the pipe of the present smith's bellows: and as illustrating the close observation of the old Irish writers, even this little hole is referred to in the verse of the elegy quoted by Cormac: p. 238, above. It was the hole through which the bellows used to chant the murmur that the poor woman loved to recall.

The Crann or Ness that Goibniu had in his hand was a wooden mould round which was formed the soft clay furnace to contain and confine the fire. From what precedes we can see—as we might indeed expect—that whenever the walls of this furnace got burned or worn out (as our present fire-clay blocks often wear out in our grates)—which might be perhaps once a week or fortnight with constant use —it was cleared away, the ness or mould was set in the proper place (the exact place for the fire) and a new structure of soft clay was formed round it in a few minutes with the hands; after which the mould was gently lifted up, leaving the furnace (urnisi criad) ready for use. At the time the incident above related occurred i.e. when the unwelcome story was brought to Goibniu, he happened to be engaged in moulding a fresh furnace round the ness.

It may be asked what need had those old smiths of an enclosed furnace at all: why did they not use an open fire-place like our blacksmiths? The answer is obvious:—they used wood-charcoal, which being much lighter than our coal, would be blown about and scattered by the blast of the bellows, if not confined by the furnace.

From Cormac's statement, that the lump or boil which was left on the visitor by Goibniu's blow was in the shape of the ness, we may infer that the ness was round or nearly so; with perhaps

a small part of the surface flat to lay up against the back flag, just opposite the pipe-hole. Putting all the references together we may be pretty sure that this ness or mould was like what is represented here, either solid or hollow. The handle was for holding and lifting up; which same handle Goibniu found very convenient when using the instrument as a weapon.

A word about the clay for the furnace. It had of course to be carefully selected, just as our modern artisans select their fire-clay—which you may now buy in the shops; and no doubt these old Irish workmen well knew the best fire-clay to stand the fire. It was not common clay, but was more or less valuable, and accordingly was kept in bags in the forge like the charcoal to prevent waste; as we may gather from the expression of the writer quoted by Dr. Kuno Meyer—Mála cré, a "bag of [moulding] clay," p. 239 above.

Of the three meanings of ness given at p. 239 above, the writer of the triad, when citing the word as applied to a renovator, must have had one or the other of two in his mind, viz., either the bag of clay, or the mould for shaping (the third—the clay furnace—would not apply). And whichever of the two he meant, mark how satisfactorily it squares-in with the main function running through the triad —the function of renovating or renewing:—the clay, or the mould, whichever we take, renewed the furnace.

This short essay illustrates how our old Irish authorities—brief and dry as they often are, and uncommunicative as they often seem—may, when subjected to a searching cross-examination, reveal to us the various materials, appliances, tools, and modes of working of the ancient Irish handicraftsmen of the several arts and trades.

THE END