School: Clochar San Pól, Cill Fhíonáin (roll number 13026)

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1. The Famine Times in Kilfinane District

   

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   The Famine Times in Kilfinane District.

   The famine had a great effect on this district
   There was a very large population in this locality at that time. There were little clusters of houses in the bog which was then all covered with turf and each family had it's own little plot this they used to dig and put into stacks for the winter months. The poor people had no land at all but rented a piece of land from big farmer and all it themselves but that was sometimes taken from them. The potato was the only food they had at that time and when that failed they were left to die by the ditches and the roadsides
   The blight came about the Summer of the year 1845
   It was a general thing to see a group of men gathered at the cross roads discussing the blight and sniffing the air because of the strange smell that filled it. The food they had instead was turnips and marigolds but these were very scarce and the poor people used to go from all this district to buy them at two or three pence per stone. An old woman went to buy some and sat down to rest in the field to eat when she had the turnips bought as she rested she pulled a turnip from the drill and cleaned it with her knife and began to eat it. The Major saw her and enquired what she was doing and she said she was eating a turnip
   "Ear you own turnip Mam" he said and he took the

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. time
      1. historical periods by name (~25)
         1. the great famine (~4,013)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Lizzie Halpin

   Gender

   Female

   Informant

   John Farrell

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   57