Quirke Hurleys Price List

Ash timber is strong and flexible with a good capacity for shock absorbency. For this reason ash has been traditionally used in Ireland for the production of  hurleys. Irish ash is said to be the best ash for hurley making due to the mild damp climate. There have been experiments with the timber of other trees but nothing has proven to be as good as ash.

Ash is native to Ireland and grows freely in many hedgerows around Ireland. It grows particularly well in the midland counties and parts of Munster where hurling is traditionally played.

Growing hurley ash as a crop is usually carried out in conjunction with the generous grants and premiums available for growing an ash timber crop; the Hurley crop is harvested as a thinning operation while retaining the final timber crop to mature.

Controversially the amount of Irish ash used in hurley production is about 12%, o f the total hurleys produced every year (approx 350,000), over three quarters of ash timber used is imported from the continent from all across Europe: Romania, Poland the Czech Republic and other Eastern European countries, Germany and Britain.

Hurling is older than the recorded history of Ireland. It is thought to predate Christianity, having come to Ireland with the Celts. It has been a distinct Irish pastime for at least 2000 years. The earliest written references to this sport are in Brehon law which dates from the fifth Century.

The survival of these records and references are a testament to the existence of the craft of hurleymaking in Ireland for over 2000 years. In the fifth Century, during the time of St. Patrick, hurleys were crafted in Ireland.

A hurley was made in Ireland on the day Brian Boru was killed in 1014. During the 'Flight of the Earls' in 1607, Ash trees were being shaped into hurleys.