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Kinvara – turf tax – 1912

Tuam Herald 14th September, 1912 p.2  (abridged)

Kinvara. Photo: BO'D
Kinvara.
Photo: BO’D

The harbour authorities of Kinvara exact three pence for every load of turf coming in from Connemara. During the turf season over 20 boats come and go every day and this season the cost for a boat load of turf was from 45s to 60s.

The men who bring the turf from Connemara are fine specimens of Irishmen. Each puckaun contains three men and they are excellent sailors and navigate their crafts in so expert a way that never an accident occurs. The turf is expensive but most necessary. There is no turf in the immediate neighbourhood of Kinvara or within miles of the town, so the people must depend on the supply from Connemara brought in these boats from over the bay.

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