Incidentally, the meaning of the Lurgan Spade is quite clear. It is "lorgán spáide", simply the shaft of a spade, which means that the well known expression is simply the equivalent of "He/she has a face as long as the shaft of a spade". It is sad to report that the expression has little to do with the town of Lurgan. The latter originates in the same word which indicates any long thin yoke as in a shin bone or a long narrow stretch of land.