Vi, Thanks for posting the link. Lots of interesting data here - and some of the letters touch the heart! I understand that in earlier times eels were commercially fished - can one still catch eels anywhere in Fermanagh, and do you know if they were used by the locals as a food source in earlier days? Kindly Dee. -----Original Message----- From: fermanagh-gold-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:fermanagh-gold-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Viola Wiggins via Sent: Wednesday, 29 April 2015 8:06 AM To: FERMANAGH GOLD Subject: FERMANAGH-GOLD Fw: Enhanced British Parliamentary Papers On Ireland weir letter This is a link to a WEIR letter which I found on the above site. Gives a little pen picture of life in the old country. Incidently Weir's Bridge was named after the two Eel Weirs on the River Erne where it was built. Viola http://www.dippam.ac.uk/ied/records/29906 --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com ================================== https://www.google.ie/ ================================== http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/placenames/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FERMANAGH-GOLD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

When I was a child [Good name for the book?] there was a man who used to buy all the Eels caught. He was known to me only as "The Eel man", and he stored floating boxes of Eels in Rossole Lough beside the Sligo Road in Enniskillen,. They were exported to London I think. I suppose for their Jellied Eels. There is only one main backbone in an Eel and they are very tasty skinned and either fried on the pan or poached in milk.. The fresh skins would be used for a sprained wrist. As the skin dried out on the wrist it tightened. Skins stretched on a board, and dried it was used as Razor Strops for sharpening Cut throat Razors. Fishermen used to fish for Eels in Lough Erne with a long Set line, anchored at each end with floating marker buoys at intervals There would have been perhaps 50 dropper baited lines tied to it. The set line was lifted with a long boat hook and the Eels stored in the bottom of the boat. They can live for ages out of water as long as their skin is kept damp and have been known to travel over land between rivers according to my father. Ken and I loved Eel but I have not had any for years. They are slimey and one needs a cloth to hold them to take the hook out. Ken killed them by cutting the backbone at the back of their neck, which also severed their main artery. viola --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com