School: Berrings (Measctha) (roll number 4186)

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   “Some hundreds of years ago there was collected by landlord in this locality what was known as "Airgead an Tinteáin", which was a tax on windows of dwelling houses, the tax varying according to the number and size of the windows.”

   

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   Some hundreds of years ago there was collected by the landlord in this locality what was known as "Airgead an Tinteáin", which was a tax on the windows of dwelling houses, the tax varying according to the number and size of the windows. In order to avoid the payment of much tax, windows in the old houses were both small and few.
   Very few of these old thatched houses now in this district, with the exception of four or five they are all replaced by new slate-covered two storey houses, but they were numerous in the district forty or more years ago, and were generally built in a hollow place. In many instances the roof and thatch were removed, the house was raised, and lofted so as to make a two-storey house.
   The old thatched farm houses usually contained two rooms, a kitchen and a 'loft' over one room at one end, which was reached from the kitchen by means of a step-ladder. In many of these houses in old times there was a settle-bed in the kitchen for the servant boy, or often it was used as a bed by some poor beggar man or woman, many of whom were travelling through the country, previous to the Old Age Pension Act.
   The smaller thatched houses contained only one room and a kitchen, and the floors were generally of clay

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Collector

   D. O' Driscoll

   Address

   Berrings, Co. Cork

   Informant

   E. Lane

   Address

   Berrings, Co. Cork