School: Sailcheartáin (Sillahetane), Dúnmaonmhuighe
- Location:
- Sailcheartán, Co. Chorcaí
- Teacher: Íte Ní Chléirigh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0304, Page 105
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- The Big Snow fell on the night of 14th February 1855. It came quite unexpectedly, it was about 14 feet in places where it had drifted.
When people woke in the morning they were alarmed when they found how they were snowed in. They had to get shovels to make pathways to the out houses.
Con Burke Milane, Dunmanway said he remembers having my grandfather (John Pattison) tell him the great difficulty he experienced in taking food to a workman of his who lived in Céim na gcapall - about a quarter of mile away.
He got grandmother to strap the food in a bag on his back; then he got a long pole and with this he carefully measured the depth of the snow before he took each step; it was tedious and dangerous work but at last he succeeded in reaching the poor man (who was on the verge of starvation). He then retraced his footsteps and arrived(continues on next page)
