School: Louth (C.) (roll number 3252)

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1. The Famine

   

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   Owen Dooley gave me this information about the famine. In the year '47 in the month of July when the foliage on the potatoes were in full bloom, the people noticed a fog hovering over the potaotes which lasted for three days. Astonished, they started to dig and were alarmed when they beheld the stalks quite empty. The tubers never formed, only a very odd patch survived. As there was a good industry going on in Channonrock the people survived. There were twentyfive men working in the grinding mill, one of the biggest flour mills in Ireland at the time. It ground just what kept them alive. The small farmers got on very badly here as they were depending mostly on the potatoes for food, now they were left penniless almost they had to see every grain of oats to pay for the potatoe ground which was £3 per acre. Some of the small farmers around here drove their carts to the Claire Mor. The Big Clerk who lived in Tullygee and got flour on credit and sometimes on condition that they would work for him in the harvest. There was a soup kitchen erected by the government

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Eveline Byrne

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Chanonrock, Co. Louth

   Informant

   Owen Dooley

   Gender

   Male