School: Port Omna (B) (roll number 2174)
- Location:
- Portumna, Co. Galway
- Teacher: Seán Ó Broin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0057, Page 0107
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- XML School: Port Omna (B)
- XML Page 0107
- XML “Famine Times”
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- In 1846 the potato crop was abundant in the district; so plentiful was the return, that the farmers had to bury the surplus in large pits in the headland. The following year the seed or settings rotted in the ground, resulting in a complete failure of the potato crop. Old people say this was a cross sent by God owing to the great waste the previous year. Hundreds died of hunger because potatoes and buttermilk formed the staple food of the working classes. Cooking utensils were now seldom used and a story is told of a young boy who, on awakening from sleep, asked his mother if he heard the pot hooks rattling or had it been a dream? The people received very little help from the government or from the upper classes. While the poor was in great distress shiploads of cattle and grain were sent to the English market. Clanricarde insisted on the rents being paid and evicted those who failed to pay.(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Alban Couser
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 13
- Address
- Portumna, Co. Galway
- Informant
- Mrs Couser
- Gender
- Female
- Age
- 45
- Address
- Portumna, Co. Galway
