Basic furnishings sought for famous Blasket dwelling

The sparse furnishings of a 1920s Irish peasant dwelling are being sought for the home of The Islandman, Tomás O’Criomhthain.

The Blasket islander is regarded as one of the great Irish language writer-storytellers of the modern era, after his book An tOileánach was published in 1929.

His simple home, on the Blasket Island off the coast of Co Kerry, welcomed linguistic scholars from Sweden, France, Ireland and the UK.

The cottage has been rebuilt from a ruin over the past two years and will open shortly to the public, its OPW restorers hope.

However, the little furniture that graced his single room and cottage which would have been shared with animals is now difficult to source.

The OPW has now sent out an appeal for items including two iron beds, or even wooden beds, with side rails and the press or trunk that would lie between them.

They are also looking for a settle — the large box structure that doubled as a fireside bench and as a guest bed or a bed for two or three people when folded down at night. Súgán or straw rope chairs and a wooden couch, as well as a strong sturdy table are also being sought.

“Furnishing would have been very sparse by today’s standards. It remains to be seen what further suitable items become available. Some have already been collected by the OPW over time,” a spokeswoman said.

O’Criomhthain’s work, however, also offers plenty of descriptions of his house and the type of dwelling common on the treeless island, 5km off Dunquin. Of his youth, when the cottage was thatched, he said: “We lived in a cramped little house, roofed with rushes from the hill. Often the hens would nest in the thatch and lay a dozen eggs there.

“We had a post bed in the corner, and tow beds at the bottom of the house. There used to be two cows in the house, the hens and their eggs, an ass and the rest of us. Our house was reversed, that is its door faced north — all the others were turned to the south…” he wrote in An tOileánach, in the translation by the Oxford Anglo Saxon scholar and poet Robin Flower was a regular visitor was known on the island as ‘An Blaithín.

O’Criomhthain describes the arrangement of most Blasket homes: “Few were longer than 20ft and a dresser divided the room. In the lower portion people slept with the potatoes underneath the bed; in the kitchen area the family, up to ten perhaps, would spend the whole day. At night, the donkey, the dog and other animals would be brought in.”

* Anyone with suitable items may email the OPW at Ionad an Bhlascaoid in Dunquinn at: [e-mail]