School: Mairnéulaigh
- Location:
- Inishcrone, Co. Sligo
- Teacher: Ann, Bean Uí Blachnaigh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0164, Page 289
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- XML “Great Famine”
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- Great Famine.The Great Famine was one of the most terrible events in Irish history. It began in 1845. It lasted for two years. It was caused by the failure of the potato crop.A man thought he was lucky at that time after working all day in the field he had in the evening a pocket full of potatoes the size of marbles.People who were rich before the famine had to eat weeds and seaweed they were so hungry. Thousands died from starvation.As there were no newspapers in those days it was a long time before the people in England heard anything about the famine. As soon as they heard about it they sent over ship loads of “Indian Meal.”At first when the English gave the Irish the meal they were so hungry they did not wait to cook it but ate it just as it was as they had been so long without food the raw meal killed them as quickly as starvation so the English had to cook the meal for them in huge boilers on the Coach road. Sometimes this road is called a “stirabout” road.The men had to work before they got a can of porridge. A lot of the work they did was building(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Ruth Quill
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Ballina, Co. Mayo
