School: Ráthdubháin (roll number 9385)
- Location:
- Rathduane, Co. Cork
- Teacher: Pilib Ó Múinneacáin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0323, Page 008
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- XML “The Famine Times”
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- In famine times the district was thickly populated and many of the people were very poor.
A story is told of a man named Mac Carthy going in a journey and on his way dying of hunger in a field now owned by John Dinneen Caherbarnagh. There is a large stone in the field in his memory.
In one of Daniel Buckley's fields in Caherbarnagh there are old ruins of dwellings in Famine times.
Old people say that there was a plentiful crop of potatoes in 1845 but portion of the crop blackened in the pits that winter. The diseased tubers made very bad seed so there was a partial failure of the crop in 1846.
The following winter they again blackened in the pits. To get seed for the following spring special shaped irons were made at forges and with those, the eye of the potato was picked out for seed.
When the crop failed many poor people lived on turnips and meal bread. Some even collected weeds and herbs and used them with salt for food.
- Informant
- Ned Riordan
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Gortavehy West, Co. Cork
- Informant
- Patrick Moynihan
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Caherbarnagh, Co. Cork
