Currach
A
Currach or
Curach is a type of
boat with a wooden frame, over which is stretched
animal skins or hides. It is sometimes anglicised as "Curragh". The construction and design of the currach is unique to the west coasts of
Ireland and
Scotland, with variations in size and shape by region. It is referred to as a
naomhog in counties
Cork and
Kerry and as a "canoe" in
West Clare. It is related to the Welsh
coracle, but can in fact cover far larger craft than the Welsh version. The traditional all wooden rowing boat found on the west coast of Connacht is also called a Currach or Currach Adhmaid "wooden Currach" Its style of construction is very similar to the canvas covered Currach. A larger version of this is known as a Bád Iomartha.
Historically, the currach was used both as a sea-fishing vessel and also as transport along
rivers and coastal waterways. The currach was first mentioned in writing at around the time of
Julius Caesar, who reported seeing sailed ocean-going currachs roving the North Atlantic. Later, in the
sixth century, it is possible that
Saint Brendan made the first
transatlantic voyage to
The Americas in a currach (a recreation of this alleged voyage was successfully completed by
Tim Severin, in
1978 to show that it would have been possible, by sailing a leather currach from Ireland to
Newfoundland).
"The curach or boat of leather and wicker may seem to moderns a very unsafe vehicle, to trust to tempestuous seas, yet our forefathers fearlessly committed themselves in these slight vehicles to the mercy of the most violent weather. They were once much in use in the
Western Isles of Scotland, and are still found in
Wales. The framework [in Gaelic] is called
crannghail, a word now used in
Uist to signify a frail boat." (Reference: Dwelly's (Scottish) Gaelic Dictionary: Curach)
Currach is also used in the Gaelic languages to denote a marshy place, such as
Currie (a suburb of
Edinburgh) and "The Curraghs", an area of the
Isle of Man, best known for its wildlife park.
Types of currachs
*
The Achill Island Currach*
The Aran Island Currach*
The Belderrig ( Mayo ) Currach*
The Dinfanahy/Sheephaven Currach*
The Innishkea island Currach*
The Kilkee ( West Clare ) Canoe*
The Kerry/Cork Naomhog*
The Rosses paddling Currach*
The Tory Island Currach*
The Boyne CoracleCurrach Builders
Currently there are few full-time currach builders. Of notable exception are
Meitheal Mara who build currachs and train in currach building in Cork. They also organise currach-racing. As of January 2005 there is a community based initiative ongoing in West Clare called, surprisingly
West Clare Currachs. They plan to build and then train racing crews in the summer of 2005. There is also an unknown number of currach-builders in the other counties on the western seaboard who build occasionally. Information about a currach-building course from August 2004 and miscellaneous other currach info is available at
thisbetterworld.orgThe traditional Scottish currach is nearly extinct, but there are occasional recreations. It is known to have been in use on the
River Spey, in the north east, and also in the
Hebrides.
St Columba
St
Columba is said to have used a currach.
"On a day, at the end of two years from his arrival on
Iona, Columba goes to the beach, where his craft of wicker and cowhide lies moored, waiting the use of any member of the community of
Hy whose occasions may call him away from the island. He is accompanied by two friends and former fellow-students, Comgal and Cainnech, and followed by a little escort of faithful attendants. Taking his seat in his currach, he and his party are rowed across the sound to the mainland." (Wylie)
This would have been ideal for traversing the large number of sounds, lochs, marshs etc that he would have had to cross, although currachs had a reputation for not being seaworthy. At the time, it would have been more suitable and safer to travel by water than land.
Currachs in the River Spey
In the
Statistical Account of
1795 we read of
"[a] man, sitting in what was called a Currach, made of hide, in the shape, and about the size of a small brewing-
kettle, broader above than below, with ribs or hoops of wood in the inside, and a cross-stick for the man to sit on. . . . These currachs were so light, that the men carried them on their backs home from
Speymouth."
The Spey currach would thus seem to be similar to the Welsh
coracle in design, due to being used on a fast flowing river, rather than the open sea. But twenty years earlier, we read of bigger ones, in Shaw's
History of the Province of Moray (
1775):
"Let me add, as now become a Rarity, the Courach. . . . It is in shape oval, near three feet broad, and four long."
A more detailed description can be found in
1780 Scottish court records:
"The currach contained only one man in working it, whereas the floats require two men and oars; and the man in the currach paddled with a shovel, one end of the rope being fixed to the raft, and the other tied to the man's knee in the currach, which he let loose when there was any danger, the currach going before the raft."
Spey currachs were used in the timber trade there, which is thought to be the direct ancestor of that in the north west USA, and west
Canada. in
1822, Ainslie's
Pilgrimage etc says:
"The river taking a sudden bend, broadened and deepened into a wheel, on the breast of which a salmon cobble, or
currach swam.
"Hence
curracher, a man who sat in a
currach and guided floating timbers down the Spey."
These may well have survived into twentieth century; there is certainly a reference to a "currick" in the
Banffshire Journal in
1926.
*
Coracle*
Birlinn*
St Brendan* Ainslie, H.
Pilgrimage etc (1822)
*
Banffshire Journal (18th May,
1926)
*
Dwelly, Edward Faclair Gàidhlig agus Beurla* Shaw, L
History of the Province of Moray (1775)
*
Session Papers, Grant v. Duke of Gordon (22 April 1780)
*
Statistical Account of Scotland (1795)
* Wylie, Rev. J.A.
History of the Scottish Nation, Vol. 2 (
1886)
*
Keeping Tradition Afloat: Currach Racing in Philadelphia*
Philadelphia Regatta - Women's Racing*
Philadelphia Regatta - Men's Racing
