School: An Cnocán Bán, Áth Treasa (roll number 12999)
- Location:
- Cummery Connell (South), Co. Cork
- Teacher: Eibhlín, Bean Uí Ríordáin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0350, Page 371
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- XML “Famine Times”
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- Famine Times.
The Great Famine of 1846-'47 affected the district very much. In the year 1845 there were about eight and a half million people in the country - twice as many as there are now.
In the year 1845 , when the stalks came up above the ground the blight came on and burned the stalks. At that time as the people depended upon the potato for food , the result of the potato failure was starvation. Then the people were hungry because they had nothing to eat.
So great was the want of food, that in some cases people say that the people used to eat the grass of the fields, drink the blood of the cattle, kill and eat donkey.'
The people died in such great numbers that they used be buried coffinless in trenches.
Some of the people were leaving the country and emigrating to America and England to escape the famine.
In the Summer of 1847 the potato grew again, but the people were too weak to plant the potatoes. In that year the(continues on next page)
