The yew-tree was formerly very abundant. Its wood was highly valued and used in making a great variety of articles: so that working in yew was regarded as one of the most important of trades. It required great skill and much training and practice: for yew is about the hardest and most difficult to work of all our native timber: and the cutting-tools must have been particularly fine in quality. Various domestic vessels were made from it, and it was used for doorposts and lintels and other prominent parts of houses, as well as for the posts, bars, and legs of beds and couches, always carved. Yew-carving accordingly gave much employment. There were also painters and metal-engravers; and here it is just as well to remark once for all, that the various articles of everyday life--hats, curraghs, shoes, book-covers, shields, chariots, leather, and so on, were made by special tradesmen (or women), all with their several suitable tools and instruments. The makers of vessels of wood, metal, and clay were very numerous, and they were quite as skilful and dexterous as those of the present time. A thousand years ago the Irish coopers were able to make vessels of staves bound with hoops, like our tubs and churns, as water-tight and as serviceable as those made by the best coopers of our day. The tools used by the various tradesmen are often mentioned in the Brehon Laws, from which we learn that there was as great a variety in Ireland then as there is now: but our limited space will only allow us to barely mention a few. There were saws, axes, hatchets, and hammers of various shapes and sizes; an adze for coopers and shield-makers; compasses for circles; planes both for flat surfaces and for moulding; lathes and potter’s wheels for turning in wood and soft clay; chisels and gouges, awls, and augers. Besides the common whetstone they used a circular grindstone, which was turned on an axis by a cranked handle like those now in use. Numerous stone structures erected in Christian times, but before the Anglo-Norman invasion, with lime-mortar, still remain all over the country, chiefly primitive churches and round towers. It is only necessary to point to the round towers to show the admirable skill and the delicate perception of gracefulness of outline possessed by the ancient Irish builders. A similar remark might be made regarding many of the ancient churches. Artificers of all kinds held a good position in society and were taken care of by the Brehon Law. Among the higher classes of craftsmen a builder of oratories or of ships was entitled to the same compensation for any injury inflicted on him in person, honour, or reputation, as the lowest rank of noble: and similar provisions are set forth in the law for craftsmen of a lower grade.