The old people long ago never wore shoes till they were getting Confirmation and children are wearing them now at three and four years of age. Some times the old people never wore shoes till they were getting married. The children go barefooted in the summer time from the beginning of April to the end of October. When the children begin to go barefooted they get thorns in their feet and sometimes fail to take them out and the foot builds a poultice of loaf bread is put on to cure it. When the farmers

About 70 years ago children never wore shoes until they were getting Confirmation, others never wore shoes until they were about 20 years of age. Now a days children wear shoes at of two and three years. All children wash their feet before they go to bed. The children wash their feet with hot water and soap. If they do not wash their feet the dirt will get hard on them and before long there will come corns on them.

Long ago no child would have boots except the rich people's children. Children would be full grown and able to earn the price of boots before they would get them. It was very hard on children to go to school in the winter as they would be very cold. Some people never wore any boots atall. There are two old people a man and a woman who never wore a shoe. Kitty Maloney and Martin Purcel. They wore nothing only the legs of stockings down as far as their ankles. They were so

Long ago children used be up to twelve or fourteen years before they wore shoes. I knew one person who never wore a shoe or boots in her life. Some children go without shoes all the year round. Most children go without shoes in summer. There is no shoe-maker in the district nearer than Lixnaw or Listowel. In some families they have a turn for the trade. The clogs were made in foreign countries but were worn locally long ago. They are worn yet but they are

People long ago were about six years before they wore shoes. There was an old man working at my mother's house and he never wore shoes. "Martin the Scollops" was his nick-name. Children go barefooted in the summer now, and very poor children go barefooted in the winter. Children go barefooted in the summer because they are happier without shoes, but long ago the people were too poor to buy shoes. It is said that if you wash your feet late that you should not let the water inside because it would bring the fairies. Shoe making and mending is a good trade. There are much more shoe makers now than long ago. There were shoes here at one time with timber soles. They were called clogs, and the shoe-makers used to make them.

In old times most of the people did not wear boots until they were up to 20 years of age. Very few children wore boots until they were 10 or 12 years of age. Some people never wore boots, unless on very rare occasions,- if they were going to Mass the carried their boots and put them on when coming near the church; or if going to town to a fair or market they carried them under their arm and put them on outside the town. Children at the present time go bare barefoot in the summer and are delighted when summer comes so that they can do so. The children of poor people go barefoot all the year unless they get old boots or shoes from some person for charity. Water used for washing feet is thrown out at once as it is said that disease would be taken from it.

About seventy years ago children would not get any shoes to wear until they would be about sixteen years of age. Some travelling people never wore boots. My father knew a man by the name of Martin Purcell who never wore any. The children nowadays go barefooted during the summer but during the winter they all wear boots as soon as they are able to walk. Bootmakers are scarce in the locality. There are only two left in

Very few people go barefooted nowadays. Children used to go barefooted all the year round even through the heavy frost and snow during the winter. There were numbers of people that never wore shoes. It is very rare to see a big person going barefooted nowadays but it was not so long ago. Children did not wear any boots or shoes till they were twenty years old, they wore boot with timber soles which are called clogs.

People in olden timens did not care their feet as much as we care them at the present time. Some people wore no shoes or boots while others wore them on certain occasions. Children were about 12 or 14 before they first wore shoes. Children go barefoot in Summer and Autumn. The water in which the feet are washed is thrown away. There are no customs or beliefs connected with it. Boots are made and repaired locally.

St Patricks cross was worn by the children long ago on St Patricks Day. They were made in the schools the day before. Each child brought an egg to the school which was used for colouring the cross, the yoke of the egg was used for colouring the part, and the green part was coloured with the juice of some plant.
When the badges were made any egg which was left over were sold, and sweets bought for the children.
Along with the badges the children wore shamrock, men also wore shamrock in their caps from St. Patricks Day till Palm Sunday then they wore Palm instead.

Care of the Feet.
The people long ago began to wear shoes at the age of fifteen. There was an old beggar man who never wore shoes in his life Fionn Mac Cumal was his name. Children of the present day go bare-footed in Summer. The water in which feet is washed is thrown out Boots are not made locally There (are) is no shoemakers in the district at present There was a shoemaker in nearly every townland in the parish about thirty years ago. Clogs were never made in the district but were worn. Few are worn now. Leather was never made in the district. The people wore sheep skin on their feet. In former times the children started to wear boots when they were about three years. In Summer the children go bare footed Long ago the people of this district wore clogs with wooden soles and tin round them. Long ago clogs were made in this district. There was a shoe mender at Michael McLaughlin in Carrowtrasna. This shoe mender was called Micky Doherty. in Carrowhugh There was a shoe mender named William Bradly. There was no leather made in this

Long ago the people did not begin to ware shoes until they were about twenty years of age. Some of them did not wear shoes until they were (about twenty years) forty and fifty.
There was a man that never wore boots or shoes and his name was Frank Gallagher. The people called him the gommeral. The children go barefoot in summer and in Autumn but they never go barefoot in winter. The water that the children wash their feet in is thrown out. The old people used to say it was not right to throw out the water in which the children wash their feet after the sun set.
Long ago there were far more shoemakers in the district than there are now. There are three shoemakers in the district. People wore clogs long ago and some

country and after her death the people started to make crosses, the same as she made, in her honour. This was kept up from generation to generation and even still every year some people make a cross in honour of St Brigid which they call "The St Bigid Cross".
Long ago the children out of the district wore badges in honour of St Patrick. A badge was made thus :- First of all, a piece of paper was got and another piece of green paper was pasted to the other paper and then on St Patricks Day the children wore these crosses on their shoulders in honour of St. Patrick.
An old custom connected with May Day is the making of the May Bush. On My Day is the local children choose a nice little bush which they decorated with wild flowers of every kind and coloured papers. Next they light candles on the bush and dance around it.

The people used to be fourteen years of age before the wore shoes. the children of the present day wear

About the year eighteen hundred and thirty seven there was an old school in the townland of Shrewane and I often heard my mother telling that her grandmother went to this school. The schools that were in those days were not like the schools we have now a days. They had no books in this school they wrote on slates with little pencils called slate pencils and each one had to bring a turf to sit on. The name of the master that taught in this school was master Gildea and he wore a swallow tail coat and a pair of nailed boots. The school was a little thatched at the foot of a sloping hill and the floor was not like the floors we have, it was a clay floor and the children never wore a shoe Winter or Summer. There were no Rolbbooks in those days and the children could quit school any time they liked.

A long time ago the people never wore shoes until they were twenty years old. There were a few men who never wore shoes until they over seventy years old. There is one that is named especially a man named Kiernan. He only wore a pair of old socks. He lived in Gubhnaveigh. Children go barefooted all the summer round and they wear shoes in the winter. When children wash their feet if there are old people in the house they would make them spit in to the water they way the fairies would not bring them. James McTiernan is the only shoemaker in this district. There are a few other cobblers in this district.

There is no account of people who never wore boots or shoes in this locality long ago. Formerly children never wore boots or shoes during Summer or Winter, but nowadays children wear boots or shoes during the Winter and go barefoot during the Summer.There are no shoemakers in this locality now, but there are several in the town of Newmarket. Long ago shoemakers were a lot more plentiful than they are now, because the work is done nowadays by machinery and saves a lot of human energy.

Long ago it is said that people never wore shoes except when they were going to mass and to town.
It is said that some people never wore shoes. At present in the summer country children never wear shoes; all children wear shoes in winter. Most people try to repair their own shoes there are no shoes made locally. Clogs

In olden days the youth of the country never wore boots until they were about sixteen or eighteen years old that is till their schooldays were over.
Long ago some people never wore shoes and were immune to heat or cold as they were well accustomed to it.
Except for a few months in Summer, nowadays, the children always wear boots or shoes. How different were the children of long ago, who never wore boots winter or summer.
In summer months when the children go around barefoot they wash their feet before going to bed. This water, according to local custom, should be thrown out. As the proverb said "Anything useless should not be left in the home at night".
There are a great number of shoemakers who travel around the country

Long ago people never used to wear boots or shoes. The children never wore boots long ago until they were fifteen years of age, and then they only wore them on Sundays.
Most of the people in this district sent their children to school barefoot in the Summer. There is only one shoemaker's shop in the district and it is owned by James Dalton who lives between Ballinafid and Bunbrusna.