Ilen School

The Ilen School and Network for Wooden Boat Building is a charitable organisation based in Limerick in Ireland. The school provides work-based learning and therapy for students with a range of backgrounds, abilities and needs.

Crest of the Ilen School and Network for Wooden Boat Building

History

The school was formed in 2000 and was based in the Limerick Enterprise Development Partnership (LEDP) building in Roxborough. It was initially an exploratory programme, funded as part of regeneration initiatives in deprived parts of the city. Over time, its reputation has grown and alternative donors have come forward to support its work.

Activities
Ilen School students working on a gandelow

A wide range of traditional Irish boats are constructed by the students, including the gandelow, currach and dory. In addition, the school was involved in the rebuilding of the A. K. Ilen (re-launched in May 2018 and from which the school gets its name) which was designed by Edward Conor Marshall O'Brien and built near Baltimore, County Cork in 1926.[1]

The school has had a significant role in building, documenting [2] and (re)educating Irish fishing communities who have lost the expertise to build traditional Irish boats. Courses on currach building have taken place on the Aran Islands[3] and the gandelow is being reintroduced on the Shannon estuary.

See also

References
  1. "Ireland's last wooden trading ship sails to London". RTÉ. 5 May 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  2. Beautement, Patrick (2014) "Building a River Shannon Gandelow - A Basic Step-by-Step Guide", Beautement Books, ISBN 978-0-9930784-0-8
  3. "Currach Building « ilen.ie". Archived from the original on 2015-02-05. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
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