School: Swords (B.) (roll number 755)
- Location:
- Sord, Co. Bhaile Átha Cliath
- Teacher: A. Hamill

Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0789, Page 75
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Swords (B.)
- XML Page 75
- XML “Travelling Folk”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- Travelling Folk are not so numerous in Ireland as they used to be, but different bands of them visit Swords every year. Some of these travellers are said to have money but most of them are very poor and they depend on the charity of the people.Most of them sell small articles such as tin cans, badges, combs, brushes, pins, laces, and other things. They buy some of these articles whole-sale and sell each article for twice its value, and they make the others themselves. Most people buy these things from them not that they want them but for charity.They are never welcome to any place, because they rob hay and put their donkeys, and ponies into people's fields, and they often burn hedges. They make little tents of rags and coats and sleep in them.The principal alms they take are; milk, butter, eggs bread potatoes and money. Most of them travel on ass and carts and some of them have caravans. The names of those that visit Swords are; the Purcells, the Cashes, and the Mohans.
- Collector
- Patrick Scahill
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Baile Anraí, Co. Bhaile Átha Cliath