Na Píobairí Uilleann

Chairman, NPU

An Píobaire

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9 2 27 20130417 23 No maker’s name, or other inscription, can be seen on the item. It has ivory ferrule mounts at each end. The chanter is 373 mm in length. A forestry colleague (Timothy McEvoy 1917- 84) who saw the chanter said ‘it looks like yew’ and that, indeed is what it turned out to be. IDENTIFYING THE CHANTER WOOD The process for identifying wood involves comparing the anatomical structure of the wood samples with known comparative mate- rial or keys (Schweingruber 1990). A wood reference collection made from specimens col- lected at the Botanical gardens in Dublin was also used. Thin slices were taken from the transversal, tangential and longitudinal sec- tions of the chanter. Each section was then ex- amined under a microscope at magnifications of 100x to 400x. By examination of the microanatomical fea- tures of the samples the species was deter- mined. Taxus Baccata (yew) is very distinctive microscopically as it contains no vessels or resin canals in the transversal section and con- tains loose spiral (helical) thickenings viewed in both the tangential and radial sections. Thus the chanter is made of the wood of the yew tree, Taxus baccata L. Yew is a native Irish conifer species. Conifers are commonly referred to as ‘softwoods’ but that is not always an accurate description, as in the case of yew. YEW PROPERTIES F.W. Jane (1956) states that yew being ‘dense as well as even-textured, is an excellent wood for turnery. Yew has been identified from many carved artefacts excavated at archaeological sites in the recent past. Yew tuning pegs han- dles and knives were all identified from a Viking site at Barronstrand in Co. Waterford (O Carroll and Moore, 2011). Musical instru- ments have been shown in the past to be con- structed from yew. A set of of ten hollowed out cylindrical yew pipes were uncovered during excavations of a Bronze Age Fulacht fiadh in Co. Wicklow. Three of the pipes have a bevel at one end and a terminus at the other, while three of the pipes show evidence for a bevel, but no terminus. Four of the pipes do not show evidence of either a bevel or a terminus. The lengths of the pipes range from 285mm to 590mm in length (O’Donnell 2004). A Wikipedia item on the internet states that the late Robert Lundberg, a noted luthier who per- formed extensive research on historical lute- making methodology, states in his 2002 book Historical Lute Construction that yew was his- torically a prized wood for lute construction. No report of the use of yew wood in the con- struction of Irish bagpipes has been seen. DISTRIBUTION OF YEW IN IRELAND Yew has a restricted distribution in Ireland and is not a dominant woodland tree today (Mitchell, 1990). It is a slow-growing conifer, and can reach a height of 20m. It is known for its strength. Recent pollen work in the mid- lands and western area of Ireland show that yew was present but rare in both areas until the ninth century AD, afterwhich it may have be- come close to extinct as a result of being sought out for its flexible and durable timber (Overland and O'Connell, 2011). Yew was widespread in Ireland in historic times. This is attested by the frequency with which the species name occurs in place names. It can appear as the species name iúr (ure) or as a yew wood eochaill (aughal or youghal) (Mc- Cracken, 1971). In recent times yew occurs in the Kerry oakwoods and in Co. Galway and in the siliceous oakwoods of Wicklow (McEvoy,

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