The cooper is a craftsman who has disappeared from everyday life. Once a community pillar, the cooper would make wooden vessels such as barrels, churns, noggins and so on. These were often made without any written measurements - by eye and experience the cooper crafted beautiful vessels for churning, fermenting and even eating from.

A selection of the best tools and products of coopers from all over the country can be found on display at National Museum of Ireland - Turlough Park. Of the many coopers represented in the Irish Folklife Collection, one stands out as having a great knowledge and appreciation of the craft. Stephen Daly, of Daly’s Cooperage in Ennis, County Clare, collaborated with the National Museum over several years, which resulted in a fine collection and representation of a cooper’s workshop.

Stephen Daly was a third-generation cooper who, despite the industrialization of agriculture, embraced the modernity of the mid-20^th century and sold milking machines and butter churns alike.

The Cooper’s Mare
The cooper’s mare or shaving horse is a bench which allows the cooper to sit and clamp down the timber so that it may be dressed accordingly. The mare has been used by coopers, carpenters and basketmakers alike for centuries. Of the dozens of mares in the Irish Folklife Collection only two can still stand independently - one of which is from Daly’s Cooperage.

F:1999.234 © National Museum of Ireland

The mare was constructed by Stephen Daly in the late 1970s and sold to the museum for £25 in 1980. Stephen informed the museum that the legs of the mare had been reused since his grandfather’s time as a cooper, which would have been mid to late 19^th century.

The legs are made of iron, and it is for that reason that it is one of only two mares still standing independently. Many of the other mares had deteriorated as they lay unused in workshops around the country, so it was often too late when the museum acquired them.
 
The butter market
The staves (individual pieces) for the butter churn below were made on the above mare. It is currently on display in the Hearth and Home exhibition at the National Museum in Turlough Park.    

Dash churn or staff churn. F:1967.108 © National Museum of Ireland


Advertisement in the Clare Champion, February 27^th, 1954
 
There are several references to “The Cooper Daly” (NFC,S,609:429) found in the National Folklore Collection, which could refer to either Stephen or his father’s time as a cooper in the late 1930s. One informant gives a good account of the work of Daly’s and another cooper

There are two old coopers in Ennis now, their names are Mr. Daly and Mr. Finucane. They make butter firkins and also they make tubs and barrels. They sell all the firkins on Saturday to the country people. The cooper is very busy during the week making firkins and tubs and barrels. They have to do great work to gather the timber. The men who work for them in those days were the Coleman’s and the Hourigans of all the coopers in Ennis the Hourigans were the most famous.”

 
(NFC, S, 0610:081)
  
As the dairy industry progressed, and the demand for churns and firkins faded away, Stephen stayed in the industry as the local supplier of milking machines and advertised them in the local paper from the 1950s through to the 1970s.
 

Clare Champion, May 28^th 1960

Barrels
Along with the dairy market, Stephen was kept busy making whiskey barrels and sent 36 barrels per fortnight to Jameson and Powers distilleries before they eventually merged and closed their Dublin locations in the early 1970s. 

Stephen was later employed to buy barrels on behalf of large companies. Stephen also had regular business from farmers and produced barrels suitable for curing meat, as described below.
 

Clare Champion, November 7^th 1970
 

Stephen Daly circa 1980 when he was visited by National Museum staff. Image © National Museum of Ireland
 
At the beginning of the 20^th century, there were several coopers in Ennis but with technological advances they rapidly declined, and Daly’s Cooperage was the only one left by the time the National Museum visited throughout the 1970s.

Stephen Daly persevered, keeping a craft alive long enough for it to be documented in the Irish Folklife Collection. Along with this he also assisted the museum with documenting other crafts in the area and proved to be an important figure in the preservation of Ennis heritage.
 
Further reading:

• Traditional country craftsmen, J.G. Jenkins
• Ireland’s traditional crafts, David Shaw Smith
• With special thanks to Brian Ó Dálaigh, son of Stephen Daly

If you have any questions or comments on this blog post you can contact me via email: tgaffney@museum.ie