The inhabitants of every town-land in the parish had their own sweat-house. Every Saturday the sweat-house was heated. One Saturday morning a large turf-fire was lighted in the sweat-house. The sweat-house was heated to a very high temperature. In the evening a person used to go to the sweat-house, close the door and remain there till he was literally "bathed in sweat". The people of olden-times believed that by perspiring in such a manner rheumatism was prevented.

Dia Céadaoin, 19adh Eanair, 1938
A Sweat House
There is a sweat house in Pollalaher. The roof of it has fallen down. The old people say that anyone who had rheumatism was put into this house. There was a very big fire put into that house and when the house was well heated the person was put into that house and left there until the person was sweating very much. They must be left in this house over night and sweating all the night. The old people say that when the person comes out in the morning they would be cured.

There was a cure for fever long ago. The people used to build a small house called a sweat-house. They used to light a big fire in the house and stay in the house until they began to sweat, and the fever used to sweat out.

ditches. He was getting very tired when he came to the sweat house at Bohey and in three jumps Paidin and hid himself in the sweat house. The ould witch thinking that Paidin hid in a cave beside the sweat house rushed into the cave to catch Paidin but didn't she get stuck in the cave and could neither get in nor come out and the yells and shrieks of her that would waken the dead could be heard for miles around. Paidin was shakin with fear in the sweat house, but about twelve o'clock when the yells stopped Paidin stole out of the sweat house and with his crock of gold on his back made his way home to his mother. When Paidin reached home his mother was sitting up for him not knowing what in the world was keeping him so long away. Paidin told the whole story of everything that happened to him and showed her the crock of gold, so they lived very happily together ever after.

About eighty or ninety years ago there was a cure for rheumatism and colds in our neighbourhood. The people of the district made a small house in the ground. The walls were built with clay and roofed with flags and had clay on top of that to keep the sweat house air tight. The floor was made of flags.
There was a very small door on the south side of the house. This door was so small that the people had to creep in on their hands and feet.
This kind of a house was called a sweat house. The younger people used to bring turf and put on a very big fire in this house and leave it burning for hours till all the turf was burned into coals. The door was then shut until the coals were burned down. There was straw then scattered on the floor. The people who were

In the townland of Aghameen there still exists after perhaps hundreds of years a curiously shaped structure in the form of a house. The outer walls were built with very large stones and the roof was made of sticks and sods.
This house was used in bygone days for the curing of sick people and was called a Sweat House. In this house a large fire was lit and when the walls and roof were well warm the sick person was wrapped in blankets and placed on the floor of this house. The door which was small was then shut and the sick person left to sweat. It was also known that Collier the robber the fearless highwayman lived at times in this house. No soldier would ever dream of going there to find him as this old building was almost level with the ground and very hard to detect , thousands would pass it by and never imagine that this old time hospital was there atall.

Sweat Houses were very common in old times. They were used to cure Rheumatism and Penumonia and other diseases.
The house was small and the walls were made of mud the roof was tatched [sic] with rushes. There was a small door leading into the house.
A big fire was lighted in the house and it was well heated. When the fire was dead and the house heated the person was put into the house and was left there as long as he was able to bear the heat. The door was closed and the house was airtight.
The ruins of an old sweat house can be seen in a field of Joe Mulvey's in the townland of Murhaun. This story was related to me

Sweat Houses
Long long ago before doctor, nurses, medicine or hospitals were heard of in this parish, sick people who caught a chill or a cold were put into a wee house called a sweat house and left there for about three hours.
The sweat house was a small house circular in shape about six feet in diameter and and seven feet high. The door was just a hole in the side and a person had to creep in on their hands and face. The house itself was made of clay and roofed with "scraws".
Before the patient went in a big turf fire was lighting

“Sweat House” on James Coryn’s land.

About mid-way between the present Coralstown school and church, there is a field called the sweat-house field. At one corner of this field the four town-lands of Coralstown, Heathstown, Hightown, and Knocksimon meet. In one corner of this field a sweat-house stood and the track of it can still be seen. It was a small house with very little ventilation. When any person in the parish got a bad cold, or a severe attack of rheumatism their friends would bring them to the sweat-house. Then a big fire was lighted and the person was put into the house. Then he would be left there until the sweat poured off him.
His friends would then roll the sick person in blankets and take him home.

Long ago the fever was raging in this district. People came from all parts to a place in the Abbey known as the “sweat house”. This house resembled a lime-kiln. The person suffering from fever entered this house, in which there was a great big fire. The heat was so great that the person was supposed to have sweated the fever away.

The first Sweat-house built in this locality was that in Corradeveret (now called Corrard) Parish of Killinagh. -
The old lady who told me about this particular Sweat-house says it was built for her great-great-grandmother, a Mrs Carson. The man who built it was a Doctor Greden, he was a nephew of Mrs Carson's, and he recommended 'Sweating', - as a cure for Rheumatism, and all bone-aches.Building of the Sweat-house.
First a circular building of stones was made, this had a small entrance. This building was roofed with flag-stones over which clay was put in layers. This was re-covered with sods. The whole building was plastered outside with clay. The floor inside the sweat-house was also flagged.How the Sweat-house fire was made.
Live coals were placed in the middle of the floor; and around this turf were built in the form of a clamps. The entrance was then sealed with rushes, and the fire was left burning till evening. When the fire had burned low, the ashes were removed and the floor was strewn with green rushes. Then, the women or men who wished to sweat entered; the entrance was sealed again with the rushes; and the inmates remained there from one to two hours. During the period they remained inside the sweat-house, they sweated profusely. This was supposed to be a cure for Rheumatism.
The Turkish Baths of to-day had their origin in the Sweat-houses of long ago.

One night as a man was returning from a fair in Miltown and he had to pass a lake which was supposed to be haunted. When he was passing a light shone between the horse's head which he was riding (and the horse) and no matter how much he would beat the horse he would only walk. The man continued this way until he came as far as a house and he felt himself getting weak. He came near the house and he got off the horse and tried to lead him in the gap, but he could not find the right place. When he was there for some time it threatened a shower and the man shouted and it was not long until the man of the house came out and he took the horse by the head and led him into the cabin and the man went into the house where he got a drink of water. When the shower was over the man went home and it was very late when he came home and the horse was covered with sweat and he nearly died. He was brought into the house and rubbed and it took a week before he recovered.

ground around it is very low. In this flat there is a drain which is called the "Black Drain." It gets its name because the ground around it is black.
In the townland of Dernahona there is a brac which is called the "Stony Brac", this name was given to it because there is a lot of stones in the ground.
In the townland of Cultha on Peter Darcys land there is a small house which is called the "Sweat House", It is built of stone and has a thatched roof. The old people used this house for sweating themselves in it. The old people used to sweat themselves two or three times a year. This is why it got its name "The Sweat House."

A sweat house
Some sixty or seventy years ago the people had great belief in the efficiency of taking a sweat for the cure of rheumatism; and for this reason "sweat-houses" were constructed. They were made of bricks, and were generally built into a bank, there were no chimneys or windows in these quaint domiciles.
A person requiring a sweat sent word to the owner of the sweat-house, and immediately a huge fire was put down and the door of the sweat-house closed. When the house was thoroughly heated the fire was taken away. Each person brought a leaf of cabbage and put

Sweat houses were ancient little house oblong in shape, built along the sides of rivers, on the side of Slieve an Iern mountain. These little houses were built entirely of stone, and they most have been pretty well built because the remains of them are still to be seen.
The purpose of these sweat houses was to make people perspire. First of all the house was lit up with a big fire inside. Then some person would enter the sweat-house and remain there until the

About this time last year Patrick Mac Mahon was going to John Molloy's wake in Termon. When he was about ten perches from Thomas Reilly's house he heard a strange noise like water falling. At that a small horse and trap came out of the hedge and went past him like a flash of light. He was a brave man and went back and examined the place where he thought the ghost came out. Big balls of sweat rolled down his face as he persevered on the road to the house. Every hair stood stiff on his head with fear. When he went into the house the people were asking him did he get a fright. When he told them what he saw the half of the people had to be left past that place going home. Every night

There was one on Phil Ward's land in Deffier and the walls were there up to ten or twelve years ago. Joseph & Thomas Mahon saw it being used.
The people suffering were also bled at the sweat house if sweating was not able to bring relief.
The sweat house was beside the old house Terry Lynch was born in (John Yank's father).
Turlogh as Terry was called could bleed and sweat but not as good as the Lynchs before him. The Lynches for generations bled people.
If fever was supposed the sufferer was brought to the sweat house and if not relieved by sweating was bled.
There was another sweat house (and I saw the foundation stones) in the townland of Stradrina beyond Stranmore, the other side of the Stoney River which separates Murhaun parish and Ballinaglera. It is above what they call the "Village" cluster of houses in the Ballinaglera parish and five miles below Drumshanbo in the Dowra Road.

heat of the great turf fire would make him perspire freely. Outside the house would be a river and this would be dammed for the purpose that when the person comes out of the sweat-house he plunges straight into the pool. This is a great benefit to the person's health for when the prespiration comes out on the surface of the body, the water washes it off and thus all impurities are taken away and the pores left open.

36.
Sweat houses
There were some traces of a sweat house in a field belonging to John Kelly, Culleenivar on the road leading from Athlone road to Curraghboy, until quite recently. The owner of the land closed the little house up a couple of years ago & hardly any trace now remains. The field is still called the sweat house field. The sweat house was used during the memory of the present owner (given above).
A large fire was lighted inside. After some time it was removed, and the patient enclosed until he became almost weak. He was then removed & taken home - well covered up. In other cases the patient lit the fire himself - closed up the entrance & stuck the heat as long as he was able. It was chiefly used by people suffering from Pleurisy. It was also used by people who didn't feel as well as they wished. They had a belief that sweating was a great cure for any form of illness.