School: Cill Ruis Íochtair (roll number 4106)

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1. Old Houses

   

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   Old houses
   The houses long ago were not as good as they are now. Some of them had only one room and were covered with thatch. The houses were built of stones and the tops of the walls made of clay and some of them had all the walls made of clays and they called this clay "thafideen". The timber for the roof was got in the wood or by spitting bog deal found in the bog. The timber was first covered with long grass sods cut from the bog and the thatch was put up outside that. The thatch was made of rushes, straw or bent and was held on with straw or hay ropes.
   There was always a pouch bed always in the kitchen in a corner near the fire place. It was called the pouch. All the houses had a chimney on the gable end. The chimney was sometimes made of stone, but nearly always there was a big stick across the house from wall to wall ,near the gable. This big stick was called the clour. The frame for the chimney was madeon top of this big stick covered with boards or woven rods.
   There was a loft on each side of the fire. Often the rods on the chimney were covered with clay and whitewashed.
   No one remembers the house having no chimney or having the fire in the middle of the floor. Glass ws used in the windows as long as anyone remembers : some poor houses very long ago had a

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. objects
      1. man-made structures
         1. buildings
            1. residential buildings (~2,723)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Mabel Howley

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Templeboy, Co. Sligo

   Informant

   John Healy

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   67

   Occupation

   Farmer

   Address

   Templeboy, Co. Sligo

   Informant

   Owen Cogans

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   60

   Occupation

   Farmer

   Address

   Templeboy, Co. Sligo