School: Tullistown (roll number 5751)

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1. Old Houses (continued)

   

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   and got rushes and sedge and reeds and put on a coat of thatch because some people were poor or had no oats or money to provide straw. When you would go in you would see a damp clay floor and a little window in the back wall that is called a spy hole. The old people used to go to the bog and get a bog oak plank and stretch it over the fire for an Arch it made a shelf like a mantle piece and had all their spun yarns and snuff up there to keep them dry and under that there would be a beautiful bright fire of scraws and turf from the bog. It was not with lime or cement that the inside of those houses were plastered in side it was called blue clay. The very poor people had a bed in the kitchen and often two beds. Some of the tasty old women had curtain put in on a string to put in front of the bed in the day time. One of the two beds might be a settle bed as they were very fond of one. Another piece of furniture the old people used to have in the kitchen was a Iasat. It held all the provision for the house. In those old houses there were two hobs on each side of the fire and they would have a candle-stick on one of those. They were not like the candles we have now but they were rush lights. People would go to the bog get 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

   Peggy Coyle

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Tullystown, Co. Westmeath

   Informant

   Mary Coyle

   Relation

   Parent

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Tullystown, Co. Westmeath