School: Oldtown (roll number 7470)
- Location:
- Oldtown, Co. Dublin
- Teacher: M. Ní Ruanaidhe
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0787, Page 45
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- Travelling people named Donovans call around here at certain times of the year. They call around to the people's homes selling articles and looking for food to eat. They are very rich but pretend to be very poor. The articles they sell are tin-cans, buckets, china, small statues, laces, tie pins, safety pins and all sorts of brushes. They buy the articles in shops in Dublin at very cheap prices and sell them to the people at very big prices. The people do not like to see them coming as they are great pests. When you give them one thing, they want another thing. They stay in Brien's lane. They get food from the people. They sleep in Caravans. They travel in batches. They come around for the patrons of the Grallagh and Palmerstown too. A friend of theirs died about twelve years ago and left them alot of money. An old man comes from Dublin at certain times of the year playing a bagpipe and all the people are very glad to hear him.
