School: Leac Snámha (B.) (roll number 10957)

Location:
Lixnaw, Co. Kerry
Teacher:
Dáithí. B. Ó Duilleáin
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0411, Page 209

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0411, Page 209

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  1. XML School: Leac Snámha (B.)
  2. XML Page 209
  3. XML “The Famine Times”

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  1. The famine was in this country between the years 1846 and 1848. It was commonly called "the black forty-seven" because in that the potatoes blackened in the drills and did not grow at all. There are a few old people in the surrounding district who can remember the privations and hardships of the famine period and could tell you some horrifying stories which you could not listen to. The principal food before the famine was potatoes and when the came they had no potatoes and they had to eat raw turnips wherever they could get them.
    When the people pulled the turnips in the famine period and when they were drawn in the poor people went out into the gardens and searched all the drills and picked up all the small turnips they could find and brought them home with them and boiled them and ate them with salt.
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. time
      1. historical periods by name (~25)
        1. the great famine (~4,013)
    Language
    English
    Collector
    John Quilter
    Gender
    Male
    Address
    Ballyhennessy, Co. Kerry
    Informant
    Michael Dowling
    Gender
    Male
    Age
    58
    Address
    Ballintogher, Co. Kerry