Celebrating the Craft of the Tempo Coachbuilder at Fermanagh County Museum

A magnificent example of a traditional tub trap has been given on long-term loan to Fermanagh County Museum at Enniskillen Castle. Now on public display at the museum, the trap was built by James McKeagney at his Tempo workshop in Co. Fermanagh in 1914.

A tub trap is a small two-wheeled horse-drawn cart. Its name reflects its open tub-like shape, with two inward and opposite- facing seats. The trap is also known as a governess cart due to its relative safety, keeping its passengers safely enclosed together.

Coachbuilder James McKeagney and his family ran a successful coach building business in Tempo, established in 1835. Here, they built horse, pony and donkey carts, tub traps, jaunting cars, floats and milk drays, as well as turf barrows, wheelbarrows and handbarrows.

Involving highly skilled craftsmanship, everything was made on site from the ironwork to the wheels and the paint. From the late 1930s onwards, the motor car and the tractor became more accessible and popular, transforming rural life. The traditional skills of the rural carpenter, wheelwright, blacksmith, whitesmith and coachbuilder were no longer in great demand. The McKeagney coachbuilding business closed in 1956.

The Tempo tub trap at Fermanagh County Museum represents the heyday of another era. It was originally built for Joe and Mary McCusker of Ballyreagh, Tempo, who used it up to 1940. The trap then lay in a barn until 1982 when it was given to James’s grandson, the late Johnny McKeagney. Johnny opened the site of the coachbuilding business as a museum and spent his life preserving, recording and celebrating local heritage, traditional skills and people’s life stories until 2010.

Gabriel McKeagney, one of Johnny’s sons, who now lives in the USA, felt strongly that the trap and the important heritage it represents should remain in Co. Fermanagh. The McKeagney family and friends recently transported it to Fermanagh County Museum to form a centrepiece in the museum galleries for everyone to enjoy and appreciate.

Chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Councillor John McClaughry, said:
“I am delighted that the McKeagney family decided to lend the traditional tub trap, which was built and restored by their family, to Fermanagh County Museum so that visitors to the museum can discover more about the fascinating history of local coachbuilding and see at first hand the beautiful craftmanship of the traditional tub trap.

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council is committed to enhancing and increasing access to local heritage and we are grateful to the McKeagney family for the long term loan of the tub trap so people can enjoy and appreciate this bygone era.”

The McKeagney family are delighted the trap will be experienced and enjoyed by visitors to the museum, saying:

“Our father felt very connected with his coachbuilding heritage. It was a big driver in his passion to preserve artefacts that gave colour and texture to crafts and traditions of the past. The trap physically represents what Johnny spent years researching and illustrating as coachbuilding features prominently in his book ‘In the Ould Ago – Illustrated Irish Folklore’.

Gabriel, a master craftsman, channels this rich heritage into his woodworking style and encompasses the McKeagney’s maker’s mark into his work, referencing the long family tradition of exquisite craftmanship dating back to 1835.”

The Tempo trap complements other artefacts on display at Fermanagh County Museum also connected to Johnny McKeagney’s historic collection. These include the forbidding doors from the old Enniskillen Gaol, and the Fermanagh Hearth Gallery inspired by Johnny McKeagney’s intricately detailed drawings, recording local life from centuries past. His archive of drawings was previously generously donated to Fermanagh County Museum by the McKeagney family.
In 2010 Johnny published a book of his life’s work in 200 illustrations called ‘In the Ould Ago – Illustrated Irish Folklore’. The book can be obtained in the Enniskillen Castle Museums Visitor Centre as well as through the family’s website: www.folklorebook.com.

The traditional tub trap is currently on display at Fermanagh County Museum at Enniskillen Castle. Normal admission rates apply. For further information or to plan your visit please visit www.enniskillencastle.co.uk or telephone Enniskillen Castle on 028 6632 5000.