56 LPtoc. b.x.f.c. 



Gray, M.R.I. A,, remembers, when a boy in the South of Ire- 

 land, that wooden candlesticks were made by choosing a piece 

 of fir which had three branches growing from the straight 

 stem; it was cut about nine inches in length, a tin socket was 

 fixed on the top, the three branches forming the feet. It is 

 very evident by the abundance of long specimens in Ulster 

 that they are a distinct type from the southern. In a paper 

 on "Rush-light Candlesticks" by Col. P. D. Vigors, F.R.S.A.I., 

 published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, 

 1891, with plate illustrating eight specimens, six of which are 

 short, averaging about twelve inches, and principally for use 

 on table or mantel shelf, the writer mentions that " The 

 southern type is invariably about ten or twelve inches in 

 height." He kindly informed me in a letter " that he had 

 seen a collection in Galway of thirty or more, principally short 

 specimens, and that in the south long specimens were seldom 

 seen." There is no doubt that the linen and flax industry 

 in Ulster is accountable for this long type, ranging from two 

 feet six inches to five feet. They were extensively used at the 

 spinning-wheel, and by a sliding arrangement with a spring 

 they could be adjusted by the spinner to the desired height. 

 Smiths and shoemakers also used them all over Ulster. Many 

 of the larger specimens were made for holding resin-slits. 

 The majority of the Ulster rush-light and resin-slit stands 

 have also a socket for a candle and in many cases two sockets. 

 The candles were mostly home-made tallow dips. Bog deal 

 was very often used in the form of splits. In Ulster the 

 weavers' candlesticks were very numerous; they mostly con- 

 sisted of a single socket at the bottom of a thin iron rod with 

 hook on top for suspending from a nail or line. An excellent 

 paper was read on that subject by the Rev. G. Buick, of 

 Broughshane. Specimens of these, some of which I show, are 

 still to be picked up in this locality. Around Connor the 

 farmers and weavers, after making resin-slits (which were 

 made by rolling tow or flax and sometimes cotton rags in the 

 melted resin), just heated the end and stuck them on a wall. 

 This is a form of candlestick I have not added to my collec- 



