Patk. Parker's father Hugh Parker was born in 1814, the year of the Big Snow. The storm came on 6th January it seems. He told me a rather interesting item bearing on the reaction of animals to weather conditions. Hugh Parker had four young horses that winter and as the district is low lying and sheltered they were kept out night and day. But the evening before the storm he was surprised to see four animals trying to force the yard gate going for shelter. He, suspecting nothing turned them back and then a fortnight after found the poor animals bunched together under a snow drift, smothered.
He says they had to tunnel under the snow to leave the houses which were almost completely covered.
He agrees with another Sgealaidhe mentioned already that the snow came from the South and the day before the storm people coming from Oulart Fair took off their coats they felt so warm.
