The last of the great Mayo tinsmiths, Ted Maughan

A Tribute by Michael Byrne

THE recent death of Ted Maughan, Cherryfield, heralded the end of an era in Ballyhaunis and surrounding districts. Ted was one of the last surviving tinsmiths from the east Mayo area.

A gentleman to his fingertips, he plied his trade with great love and sheer dedication. His father before him was also a tinsmith Ted often recalled that at the age of 15, his father allowed him to make small pieces from tin.

He remembered his father making cans of all shapes and sizes. In the days before the plastic bucket, these would be sold to people for transportation of water from the well or for holding milk.

Ted often liked to recall his days as a traveller, going from door to door in a pony and cart asking people to buy a can or bucket.

His family lived on the side of the road for many years and he often recalled that a farmer would give them a bucket of spuds or a bag of turf in return for his handiwork.

Reflecting on Ted's life during his funeral Mass, Parish Priest Fr. Stephen Farragher spoke with great fondness and admiration for his late parishioner.

Doing the First Friday calls, Fr. Stephen said he always left Ted and his wife Ellen's home until last as he enjoyed so much listening to Ted recall his life on the road and his life as a tinsmith.

"Ted was a man who was greatly respected by everybody," said Fr. Farragher, "and respect doesn't come cheaply." Indeed, Ted and his close-knit family were highly respected and much admired throughout Ballyhaunis and surroundinmg areas.

In a beautiful and moving tribute to her grandfather, Ted's grandchild Louise Cleary spoke lovingly of her grandfather, describing him as an honest, descent, humble and hard working man – a big man with a big heart. Few would argue with any of those sentiments.

Ted, who was born on the side of the road in Castlebar in 1936, did an interview for Annagh Magazine in 2009 in which he spoke candidly about his life as a tradesman, a traveller and a trader.

About his life on the road, he reflected: "We went from door to door. We went with the horse and cart, me and the wife. Me and the wife would go into the house. She would ask for the flour, ask the milk, ask the butter, and fair play to them, they were very good in them particular times.

"It was the farmers feeding us in those particular times. The road was a lovely life alright. In them days, every farmer you went to, they were no ways abusive, they wouldn't run you from the door or anything.

"We'd wait maybe a week in a place camping. You'd move into a different place and you'd be meeting different farmers, different people every day. We'd stay in Galway, Mayo and Roscommon, and you had different faces to meet."

Ted married the love of his life, Ellen Ward, when he was just 20 years of age. "When we got married, we went to the chapel in the horse and cart; me and the wife, my father and mother. So, into the chapel, tied the horse and cart, get a place to tie it around the church and you'd come out from that again.

"There was no such thing as wedding cakes and there was no such thing as hotels in them times, and no big fancy cars. And after you got married you had to do the same routine again: go to the farmer's door, knock at the farmer's door and say: God bless ye all and God save all here."

In the 1960s, with the arrival of the plastic buckets and plastic cans, the work of the tinsmith dried up, so to speak, so Ted and Ellen went to England where he worked for some time on the buildings.

Some years later the couple returned to the west of Ireland and settled in Ballyhaunis.

"I had a horse and cart and I used to put out top-dress, fork it into the cart and fork it out again, shake the silage. I worked for £10 a day when my children was coming up.

"I worked also in the meat plant in Ballyhaunis for Mr. Rafique, and fair play, he was a very good man to work for. At that particular time I was doing all the slaughtering. Yes, the killing," Ted recalled with great clarity.

At the beginning of the funeral ceremony, a number of symbols were brought to the alter, reflecting the life of Ted.

The anvil, copper and a number of other items associated with the art of the tinsmith, and his cherished Rosary beads. Ted was a man of tremendous faith, a gentleman who lived the gospel through the manner in which he lived out his life.

He had a great saying which he picked up from his father, one he always uttered when he learned that someone had died: "The bed of Heaven to every soul!"

May the bed of Heaven be the final and everlasting resting place for this beloved and much loved son of Ballyhaunis. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilís.

Forever missed by his loving wife Ellen, sons, daughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, great grandchildren and extended relatives, Ted was laid to rest in Ballyhaunis Cemtetery.