School: An Mhainistir i gCill Chiaráin
- Location:
- Kilkerrin, Co. Galway
- Teacher: An Bráthair Féidhlim Ó hAlmhain
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0080, Page 265
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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
- There was a famine in Ireland in 1847 which lasted for three years. During that time the people were lying out by the ditches eating herbs called ? and samsogs. They died by the thousands. It raged very severe between Barnaderg and Tuam. The people left their houses to search for the said herbs and were not able to read them again.
A gentleman who lived about half a mile from Tuam closed in a field, roughly three acres in size, with eight foot wall around it, to bury the dead who were found on the sides of the road. Remnants of the walls still remain. The priest of the place used to go to the houses to attend to the dying. There was a fever in the district also.
The people always sowed the potatoes on the flat not on ridges or drills. Only a few people had seed left from the previous year to sow on the same year. Whatever little potatoes grew for the people they brought them home and did not leave them in pits.
- Collector
- John Whyte
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Scregg East, Co. Galway
- Informant
- Mr Whyte
- Relation
- Parent
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Scregg East, Co. Galway
