School: Tamhnaighe an Fheadha (roll number 12938)

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1. Old Houses

   

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   The houses that the people had long ago were much like the thatched houses nowadays except that the people don’t tie cattle in the houses. Long ago if the people cleaned their houses and put out animals in stables the landlord would come and raise the rent that was already too high for them to be able to pay. Sometimes when a tenant was evicted the neighbours would gather together and build a hut for him out of sods and clay and whatever material was most convenient for them. In those huts there was a hole in the roof to let the smoke out. They had no windows. There were openings left instead to let in the light. The doorway also helped to let in the light. The floors were made of large flagstones. Some of the old houses had no chimneys they often placed the fire in the middle of the floor and there was a hole in the middle of the roof and the smoke used to go out the hole and whenever the old people went in the room and put down a fire the two smokes had to go out the same hole because they were afraid of the landlord. They used half-doors as well as a big door and before wooden doors were made

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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

   Tommie Doherty

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Lurga Upper, Co. Mayo

   Informant

   Thomas Doherty

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Lurga Upper, Co. Mayo