The Lilliput Turf Cutting Machine

The remains of the Lilliput Turf Machine  is a very fine relic of the social, economic and cultural history of Kilteevan. This machine was purchased by Jonnie and Paddy Dolan in 1965 from H.G. Shnitzer,Edenderry. The machine cost IR£5,000 (the equivalent of over €‎100,000 today) and was transported to Kilteevan in pieces and put together by Johnnie, Paddy and Eamon Connor in Carrowmore Bog. The first turf was cut on a fine day in March 1965 but was halted the following day due to unseasonably heavy snowfall.

The machine was powered by a Ford diesel engine and had a main frame, supported on power-driven caterpillar tracks. A multi-bucket digger boom at one side of the machine was inclined at a 45-degree angle when in the working position, with the forward side of the bucket cutting as the turf machine advanced. The buckets discharged the turf through the macerator unit onto a plate chain, marking it into sod lengths and then onto the spreader arm. The turf was then discharged onto the turf bank.

The first operators of the machine were Johnnie Dolan and Eamon Connor and in subsequent years both Paddy and Tom Dolan spent many a long day working on the machine with, what Tom recalls as, “great days but plenty of hardship”. The machine was the only one of its kind in the area and cut turf for many people in the locality and beyond. It was finally retired on this spot in 1997 by Tom Dolan.

In December 2020 Tom Dolan and Eamon Conor officially reopened this road with their grandchildren

WHAT WE COULD SEE IN 2020   

WHAT WE UNCOVERED

  18th December 2020, Tommy Dolan and Eamon Connor  former owners of the Lilliput officially opened Lilliput Way, Cloonlarge:Loop 

Tommy and Eamon stand at the Tidy Towns new sign Our Evolving Relationship with Peatlands

OCTOBER 2022- following a generous donation by a community member, Kilteevan Tidy Towns Volunteers gave lthe Lilliput a major facelift.