School: Clochar na Trócaire, An Caisleán Riabhach
- Location:
- Castlerea, Co. Roscommon
- Teacher: An tSiúr M. Stiophán
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0246, Page 177
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- XML “Cromwell, the Famine and the Land War”
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- In 1846 the Great Famlne was raging in Ireland. It was directly caused by a failure of the potato crop. The potato was the chief food of the people at that time.
Thousands of people perished in 1846 with starvation and others died with disease. They had to eat raw turnips, weeds and sea weed. Then they went through the fields and gathered wild weeds which they used boil and eat with salt.
The next year was far more terrible than that last year. It was called "Black Forty Seven".
The roads and fields, towns and villages were thronged with dead and dying. Old people say that Ireland suffered many wars and invasions. But the people never suffered as much as they did in "Black Forty Seven".
- Collector
- Rose Ann Dowd
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Knockalegan West, Co. Roscommon
- Informant
- Peter Dowd
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Knockalegan West, Co. Roscommon
