School: Mairnéulaigh

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1. Famine Times

   

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   There was an old man who went from house to house begging. One day he went into Rose Cottage during the time of famine. The woman in the house thought he looked thinner than he had been. He told her he had not eaten anything for a week. She gave him a bowl of porridge. He ate it. He then went out and lay down in the Commons and died from overfeeding after starvation.

   He was peculiar as he carried his bed on his back. When he went into a house he stood in the middle of the kitchen and he looked all around it. If he saw and wanted a bit of bacon or any other food he would sing

   "God bless Mrs Blakeney with the fine bit of bacon and the round, merry round, merry round.

   In the Autumn of 1847 the people died "like flies" in Easkey. They did not make coffins for them but threw them into a big hole. One night there was terrible crying heard. None of the people went out. It was a dark night. They were afraid. They thought it was ghosts. In the morning they saw one man had been buried alive and had got up and staggered over to the wall for shelter. Often they did not even bury them in the graveyard but in a ditch or field in order to save time. The fathers of the children used to go away from the house during the day. They could not bear the hear the cries of the children.

   
   Written by:-
   Constance Carroll,
   Frankford,
   Enniscrone

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. time
      1. historical periods by name (~25)
         1. the great famine (~4,013)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Constance Carroll

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Frankford, Co. Sligo