Gadgets, gizmos, games, gifts, and other fun stuff…
… so here’s a horse-drawn harvester? / thresher? in action near Malin Head in Donegal.
Photographer: Probably Robert French of Lawrence Photographic Studios, Dublin
Date: Late 1890s??
NLI Ref.: L_ROY_09718
| Cookie | Duration | Description |
|---|---|---|
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
| viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
A reaper, I suppose you’d call it. There’s a v similar one shown here more recently, in Mayo http://www.mayovintage.org/AnnualFieldDay.html
A horse-drawn reciprocating-blade mower.
Needless to say the photograph is posed and the photographer nearly got it perfect.
A bucolic idyll, if ever I saw one.
Ahem! No location yet?
Round here somewhere: maps.google.ie/maps?q=malin&hl=en&ll=55.365627,-7…
I’ll take another look later if I have time.
Thingamabob! I like that better than gadget.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/48236157@N02/] No John it’s called a "Thingamajig" on this side of the pond:-). Malin Head, back in the 50’s my cousin qualified as a meteorologist and he was posted to Malin Head – lovely spot but for a 20 year old not exactly the ‘in’ place to be.
The shot is posed alright and very nice, the latest gadget/thingamajig getting an airing!!!!
A thingumajig is a specific bit of machinery though, as evidenced by the famous line "he rapped and he tapped on the thingumajig but the thingumajig said rain!"
A similar thingumajig from South Co Donegal.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/72163146@N08/7710419128/in/set-72157628529581127]
Always love old photos of farm work. Farmers in the Malin region who had geese, and had to drive them to market in Derry, used to make them go through tar then sand to give the geese’s feet protection during the long walk.
As to location; its seems likely to be just outside the town of Ballygorman looking west, the land from the mountains gradually slopes towards the sea (obviously not visible here).
A sit down job. Surely a rarity in those days.
a knife bar or reaper looks like a machine made by Pierce of Wexford. and a nice crop of corn is being mowed this is hand tied into sheaves the sheaves are stood in groups of four called stook,s to dry then built into stacks, later in the year the threshing machine will come and the corn will be threshed removing the seed from the straw.
The reaper is basically a horse drawn mower with the addition of an extra seat above the right hand wheel and a board attatched to the bar, controlled by a pedal. One man was driving the horses, the other collecting oat (or other grain) straws sufficient for one sheave before dumping it by means of the combined action of lowering the bord with the pedal and using the rake. The next step was the self-binder, a much more complicated piece of machinery.
How are we supposed to nail down a location? It’s a field. That’s a manual thresher. Before the giant combines took over.
I was going to be a smarty pants and pick some Google map at random showing a field near there, but they’re all gone! Suburbia takes over…
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/66151649@N02] There is an small outcrop of rock/quarry on top of the small hill in the distance. This same feature is visible in this Streetview.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/91549360@N03] You aren’t joking! They look very similar – do you think you’ve got it right? (Just guarding against an outbreak of smarty pantsness [http://www.flickr.com/photos/66151649@N02] )
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/86136754@N06] That’d be this Pierce of Wexford!
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/estenvik] Thank you!
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland] Yes I have it right.Townland of Ballygorman. I have placed the OSI mark where I believe French took this picture.The photograph was taken looking WSW. The far outcrop and road coming out of the hollow in middle distance match this position as do the buildings with those marked on the OS. ( look at the long house behind the horses rump and that on the OSI map west of mark).
The satellite views show that what’s left this field is still tilled or at least cut for hay/silage.
This is what’s left of the long house behind the horse.(Note: drop in roof line is the same as above.)
Line of Photograph.[http://www.flickr.com/photos/91549360@N03/9595510936/in/photostream/][http://www.flickr.com/photos/91549360@N03/9592853251/in/photostream/]