School: Baurnafea, Paulstown (roll number 807)
- Location:
- Baurnafea, Co. Kilkenny
- Teacher: Sean Moffat
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0861, Page 322
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- (continued from previous page)house. Even the small farmers had cows and although most of the butter was sold to meet the rent there seemed to be some left over. The farmers killed their own pigs and saved the meat so that bacon was no rarity, but of fresh meat they had but little. Oaten bread was baked on a griddle and was "as hard as a board". Butter was melted into it and pieces were broken off on the edge of the table in the same manner as a child might break pieces off a slab of toffee at the present day. Oaten cake was voted great stuff but was disliked on account of the difficulty experienced in eating it. New milk and buttermilk were the principal drinks. Tea only came into the house at Christmas, and young James and his brothers & sisters used to sit up all night in order to get it when X-mas Day dawned. They always drank it without milk or sugar. A favourite dish of the time was praw-been. The winnowed wheat was taken from the barn and ground fine in the quern. Caught in a sheet a it trickled from the quern it was brought in, wetted with new milk, and eaten with a spoon. A dish fit for asking. Such was the food used by the small farmers, (of which Bornafea was mainly composed) in those days. The labouring class of course lived on much simpler fare. Potatoes, yellow(continues on next page)
