Moynalty Steam Threshing Show

If you’re at a loose end this Sunday, August 10^th, why not head down to the Moynalty Steam Threshing and Working Show in Co. Meath. This is their 39^th annual show, and they know by now how to give people a good time.

Demonstration by Lincoln and Nolan, 26 March 1953

There will be all types of vintage tractors and farm machinery on display; machinery from Lincoln and Nolan, Fordson tractors, David Browns, maybe even a Porsche tractor if you’re lucky. But these machines will not just be sitting there, looking pretty. They will be put to work, demonstrating how farm work was carried out before tractors grew to the size of a house. (If you’ve ever driven along country boreens during silage season, you’ll know what I mean.)

Demonstration of new 2D David Brown tractor at Blakes' Cross in J.Daly's field,  05 January 1956

But if that’s not vintage enough for you, there will also be horse-drawn machinery, threshing wheat and ploughing. Remind yourself what ‘horse-power’ actually means. And if you want to go even more extreme, you might even see human beings reaping and binding crops by hand.

Ben Bulben, County Sligo, 25 April 1956

But it’s not all about farm machinery of course. There will also be vintage and classic cars on show, none of which will be any younger than 30 years old. If you love your Morris Minors, or Triumphs, or were a bit of a Hillman Imp in your youth, you’ll be in heaven in Moynalty this weekend.

Motorcycle manufacturer John Ellis with one of his veteran cars at Straffan House, Co. Kildare, 23 May 1961

There will also be a welcome for your faithful friend at the dog show, or you can bring your children along to see the farmyard animals and pets. Though, if you do, you should probably be prepared for weeks of nagging afterwards along the lines of: “Can we get a puppy/kitten/rabbit/pony/lamb, pleeeease?”

Mount Merrion Dog Show, 06 September 1952

If you do make it over to the show, keep an eye out for the Irish Photo Archive stand. We’ll have lots of prints of vintage tractors, farm machinery and cars, as well as our most popular fine art prints of Irish life and culture from the past six decades. We’d be delighted to see you, so do drop by and take the opportunity to see and hold our images close up. Maybe it’s an age thing, but I find the physical prints even more impressive than just seeing them on a screen.

And if none of that appeals to you, maybe the poitin still and roast pig might be more your style? You can dance it all off afterwards on the Dancing Deck!