School: Baile an Gharrdha (B.) (roll number 13210)
- Location:
- Baile an Gharraí, Co. Thiobraid Árann
- Teacher: Tomás Lotrail
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0563, Page 175
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- An Gorta Mór 1846 - 47
Famine Times (i mBaile an Gharrdha)
Unfortunately almost all the old people of Ballingarry who could relate stories about the Great Famine have died in recent years. Much valuable information has gone with them. It did not affect this district as much as others. But the district was very thickly populated before the famine. The decline in population was chiefly due to emigration in the subsequent years.Great numbers of ruins and sites of houses can still be seen throughout the parish. Spring wells are also numerous indicating that there were dwellings nearby. Other indications are boreens or as they are called in this parish "bosheens" also names of fields eg Coyne's field in Jessfield, Kavanagh's field in Tinnock Casse's field.The blight came suddenly and the potatoes decayed in the ground, and in some cases in the pits. The old people used to point out that it was a malediction on the people for the waste of the previous year. Potatoes were so plentiful that they were left in the ground to rot. In order to have seed potatoes for the following year they cut out the part containing the "eye" and kept the remainder for food. In ridges potatoes were generally sown. Many fields in the parish still contain ridges.The people used to(continues on next page)
