Candles are Christmassy. In light of this, wouldn’t it be interesting to know a little bit about their history?

Like the history of many things, it begins in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. There, evidence suggests the use of beeswax candles about 5,000 years ago.

Also uprooted by archaeology have been abundant remains of highly-crafted candelabra from the scorched ruins of Pompeii.

As for the earliest surviving specimen of a candle, it is dated to the first century A.D. and was found in Avignon, France.

The traditional candle-making raw material was beeswax, but most everyday medieval candles were made of animal tallow such as mutton-fat because it was substantially cheaper.

The price was to be paid, however, in that that it exuded a pungent smell: think of burning lard and you’ll have an idea. So bad was it, in fact, that the use of tallow for manufacturing within the walls of Dublin was banned by a city ordnance.

Notwithstanding this, ample evidence exists of such a practice during the 1700’s at Essex St., well within the walls.

These days, of course, tallow isn’t in use, but recent history suggests that it has not been rendered entirely obsolete: tallow candles were purposely supplied to the British army because of their added function as an emergency store of food!

Pure beeswax, on the other hand, continues to be used, most notably by the Catholic Church which never burns any other type of candle. As part of an amalgam with paraffin oil, beeswax is also used in candles for the mainstream retail market.

Today, at Rathbornes Candle Manufacturers on the East Wall Road ordinary candles are composed of 25% beeswax and 75% paraffin oil. Emerging in the mid-1800’s, paraffin oil has revolutinalised the candle industry because of its quality of enhancing the longevity of the candle.

Thus, in an age of oil and then gas burners (in the 1700’s and 1800’s respectively), this new paraffin candle ensured that candlelight would still have it’s niche it the market.

Long before oil and gas, however, street lighting was by candlelight.

The crude beginnings of this in Dublin would have been seen after the 1616 Candlelight

Law, which decreed that every fifth home should display a light for the use of passers-by.

For every night’s default on this, a negligent household was fined six pence. Later in that century, the aforementioned Rathbornes Candle Manufacturers were contracted to light Dublin.

Around 1700, candle lanterns were fuelled by fish blubber – probably spermaceti, the variety of white waxy substance produced by the bulbous head of the sperm whale (to aid buoyancy).

After candlelight, oil and gas light, Pigeon House generating station was opened in 1903 and electric street lighting extended across the city.

Another function of candles was for time-keeping. Until around forty years ago, these time-keeping candles were used in coal mines to measure work shifts. Hourly or bi-hourly divisions were etched in the candle wax according to burning time. A standard candle of this sort would burn for 24 hours and be marked with 12 divisions.

The history of candle manufacturing in Ireland is inextricably linked to that of local manufacturers, Rathbornes.

With a proverbial burning time of 510 years, it is the oldest candle manufacturers in contiuous existence, not only in Ireland, but in Europe.

At this time of year, however, large urns of soap-flake-like processed wax in festive red can be seen in the main part of the factory, which is a veritable Lappland of activity. Also to be seen are large vats of steaming hot wax.