School: Aghakee

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1. Famine Times

   

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   The famine of 1846 and 1847 was caused by the failure of the potato cro[ as the chief food of the people at that time was the potato. For a few years preceding the famine the crop was so plentiful that the potatoes were piled along the ditches where a great many of them decayed as it was impossible to use them all. The district of Crosserlough was very thickly populated. The ruins of some of the houses are still to be seen. The people who lived in those houses had no land and where therefore very poor. In the year 1846 the blight came on the potato plants the tubers decayed in the ground and the crop was almost useless, although the people dug the ground twice so as not to lose a single potato. They also dug the oats ground where potatoes had grown the previous year in an effort to procure even a small quantity of potatoes. The following year the seed potatoes were so scarce that, the splits being so small were sown like corn or grain. The people ate turnips and any other vegetables they could get. Men working on roads were

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   Topics

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

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Shaun Briody

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Rockfield, Co. Cavan

   Informant

   Mr John Mc Cabe

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   86

   Address

   Latnadronagh, Co. Cavan

   Informant

   Mr Philip Lynch

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   80

   Address

   Rockfield, Co. Cavan