The old ways are often still the best

Keeping a family tradition alive

BLACKSMITH Pat Monaghan still uses a lot of his grandfather’s tools.

“A hundred years on, I’m using the same tools, doing the same designs as he would have done. I get a bit of a kick out of that,” he says.

The blacksmith trade runs deep in the Monaghan family, 200 years and several generations deep in fact. Michael Monaghan first established a forge in Caherlistrane in 1820. Michael was Pat’s great-great-grandfather.

Offspring have come along in the centuries since and kept the tradition alive. Michael’s sons, Thomas and William, made the gates for Donaghpatrick Cemetery on the main road between Caherlistrane and Headford, gates that still stand today and bear the name of their maker.

For more, see this week's The Tuam Herald. In your local newsagents or buy online HERE.