School: Drom an Eargail, Áth Treasna (roll number 10361)

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1. Old Houses

   

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   The houses that existed in this locality long ago had mud-walls except some rich people and the walls of their house were made of stone. The tatch used by both classes was rushes and reed and straw and sometimes with rye. The rushes were procured in the wet boggy land, the wheat, rye and straw had to be sown in the Spring time and cut in the Autumn the same as nowadays, the reed was made by striking the Wheat against a barrell and the straw was made with a flail.

   It was customary for every old house to have a settle bed in the ketchin. The settle bed was placed at the west wall of the house if the house was facing eastward. This settle was used as a bed by night and a seat by day, it was sometimes used by day to keep pans and other articles up on it.

   The fire place was mostly always in the gable wall. The mantle-tree was a stick across from wall to wall for the support of the breast of the chimney, This is made of wattles or twigs with mud plastered on outside them to keep the smoke from going out around the house and to send the smoke up straight the chimney.

   There was a few houses in this locality long ago that had no glass windows but a few holes cut here and there in the mud walls in the air and sun, these were stufed at night with hay or rushes.

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. objects
      1. man-made structures
         1. buildings
            1. residential buildings (~2,723)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Mary O' Keeffe

   Gender

   Female