School: Cloonacool (roll number 4802)
- Location:
- Cloonacool, Co. Sligo
- Teacher: Seán Ó Blioscáin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0171, Page 086
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- XML School: Cloonacool
- XML Page 086
- XML “The Famine”
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- The famine commenced by the failing of the potatoes. Then followed the scarcity of turf and a terrible disease called cholera raged everywhere. People died in thousands. Then free stir-about used to be given round to the poor people. This is how the Stir-about Bridge got its name. A hundred or two of potatoes were divided round on the poor people. The potatoes were grated and put in bags and hung from the collar-ties of the house to dry for making bread. If there were any small potatoes that were not rotten they would be picked out for seed and these were so small that the people had to shake them like sowing oats. When the stalks came up they were thinned like turnips. The year of the famine there was a big pot in Cloonacool for boiling stirabout. Every person in the locality would come with a can for stirabout.
- Collector
- Bridget Johnston
- Gender
- Female
