School: Balscadden (roll number 9492)
- Location:
- Balscaddan, Co. Dublin
- Teachers: P. Ó Séaghdha Francis Shaw
Open data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Balscadden
- XML Page 212
- XML “Old Houses”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- 212
Old Houses
Mr Dillon told me the following-
The houses in Balscadden long ago, were all built of mud and straw. Many of the firesent houses are built of the same materials and as long as fires are kept during in them they will never fall. The walls are about two feet thick and sometimes three. Straw was mixed with the clay or mud to give a good bond as the people say They were old and thatched but zinc roofs are now placed over the thatch in many places. There are the remains of some of those old houses still to be seen and the mud wall with the straw sticking out can stand all weathers. The thatch (straw) was got from the farmers around. It had to be steeped in the river for some time before it was used. Everyman around here could and can thatch, and Balscadden thatches are in great demand around the country. The windows were very small not more than a foot square. The old houses still occupied have the big open chimney. The fire was on the heart tone, wood being the principal fuel. There was an iron bar across in the chimney and from this bar the pot hook(continues on next page)- Collector
- Eileen Finn
- Gender
- Female
- Informant
- Joe Lynch
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Balscaddan, Co. Dublin