School: Béal Átha Conaill (2)
- Location:
- Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: M. Laing
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0968, Page 051
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- (continued from previous page)for a couple of coppers per day. It was well known afterwards that the greater part of the money never reached the pockets of the poor and the needy. 1847 was even a blacker year as a disease broke out among the people and they died in thousands from cholera black fever. Skin disease the result of starvation and exposure were common. The population of Ireland reduced to near the half before the country recovered.
My grandmother (who was then Catherine Best Clincollow) and my great grandfather (Mr. G. Best Clincollow) were digging potatoes the time of the famine. They dug for a day and they hadn't enough sound ones for the next day's dinner. They used to cut the sound bits off and grind them in a quern and ring them and make boxty out of them. My great grandfather (Mr. W. McMullen) had no bad ones at all and he made £40 the next year on what he sold. The people made the Woodford Canal to get some relief. They worked all the day and at night they got Indian meal porridge at the Market House in Ballyconnell. Some of them got 4 a day and thought it great pay.
- for a couple of coppers per day. It was well known afterwards that the greater part of the money never reached the pockets of the poor and the needy. 1847 was even a blacker year as a disease broke out among the people and they died in thousands from cholera black fever. Skin disease the result of starvation and exposure were common. The population of Ireland reduced to near the half before the country recovered.
My grandmother (who was then Catherine Best Clincollow) and my great grandfather (Mr. G. Best Clincollow) were digging potatoes the time of the famine. They dug for a day and they hadn't enough sound ones for the next day's dinner. They used to cut the sound bits off and grind them in a quern and ring them and make boxty out of them. My great grandfather (Mr. W. McMullen) had no bad ones at all and he made £40 the next year on what he sold. The people made the Woodford Canal to get some relief. They worked all the day and at night they got Indian meal porridge at the Market House in Ballyconnell. Some of them got 4 a day and thought it great pay.
