School: Balscadden (roll number 9492)
- Location:
- Balscaddan, Co. Dublin
- Teachers: P. Ó Séaghdha Francis Shaw
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0783, Page 170
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"Great Mowers"
Before machines came into use, meadow were cut by the scythe. Harvest men as they were called, came to the district and other places all over the Co Dublin and cut the meadows by contract. Those men came from the County Cavan and County Longford. They brought their scythes with them and slept in the barn near the farmer's places. There would be forty or fifty of them in each batch. They started work at about six o'clock in the morning. On an average each man would cut an acre per day. Now with the modern means of mowing, it is a common thing to see a machine cutting down five acres on a good day. Those harvest men remained to treat the harvest in the same way as they did the hay. Some of those harvest men remained and married in this district and hence the County Cavan names to be met with here. John Lynch a local man could mow an acre per day with the scythe.
Janie Larkin St VI
My father told me this
- Collector
- Janie Larkin
- Gender
- Female
