School: Keelagh
- Location:
- Keelagh, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: Ellen Reilly
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1025, Page 102
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- During the years 1846 and 1847 there was a great famine here in Ireland owing to the failure of the potatoes. These were the first years of the blight. First the stalks began to decay and then the potatoes rotted in the ground.
At that time the people depended on the potato crop for all their food so when this crop failed starvation made its way among them.
The population of this country was twice as thick then as it is now so the disaster was fearful.
Thousands of people were found dead by the roadside and many others went to United states, Canada, England and other countries to escape death from hunger at home.
So great was the want of food that in some places the people were seen eating grass. They drew the blood from the cattle and drank it and in some places the donkeys were killed and ate. This dreadful disaster raged in County Cavan as well as in every other county.
So thickly did they die that sometimes they were buried coffinless in trenches.
The Americans moved to compassion(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Eileen Smyth
- Gender
- Female
- Informant
- Mr Michael Smyth
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Keelagh, Co. Cavan
