School: Killea (roll number 3219)
- Location:
- Killea, Co. Leitrim
- Teacher: Séamus Mac Coilín
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0195, Page 212
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- The Great Famine (No 2)
In eighten hundred and forty seven there was a great famine in Ireland. It was caused by the failure of potato crops. For the first time in Irish blight appeared on the crop. The stalks and leaves turned black thus giving the name "Black forty seven" to the year. Before the famine there were eight million people in Ireland and after it there were only four. Two million died from starvation and two million emigrated to America, Australia and other places. This accounts for the large number of Irish in America at the present time. The Irish depended on the potatoes for support as they had previously sold all their oats and wheat to England, before they started dig the potatoes. When they had begun to dig they discovered the most of the crop had decayed in the ground. When all the potatoes were gone the people began to eat turnips raw as they were too weak to boil them.
- Collector
- Francis Gordon
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Lugasnaghta, Co. Leitrim
- Informant
- Antony Mc Grath
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Lugasnaghta, Co. Leitrim
