School: Baile an Mhuilinn
- Location:
- Milltown, Co. Sligo
- Teacher: Bean Uí Shigín
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0157, Page 303
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- XML “Famine Times”
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- Famine Times.The old people in my district still tell stories which they heard from their parents about the Great Famine of 1845-47. Owing to the famine the price of potatoes, oats and other crops became so high that oatmeal was sold at a penny per pound. The famine was followed by fever and often the fever cholera appeared and several people in this district, whose names I can't find out, were victims of these diseases.
Many people who worked in the town could not go because business was suspended and nearly all the shops were closed and people were dying daily in hundreds. This famine and fever was so terrible that the population of Sligo fell from 15,000 to 12,000 people.
When the famine first began it was not long until blight appeared on the potatoes and when this happened the people were stricken with despair because with the failure of the potato-crop, which was their last and only hope, the only things they had to eat(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Ada Shaw
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Ballynagalliagh, Co. Sligo
- Informant
- Mr G. Shaw
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Ballynagalliagh, Co. Sligo
