School: Ednacarnon (roll number 3523)
- Location:
- Edenacarnan South, Co. Donegal
- Teacher: Máire, Bean Staráid
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1081, Page 140
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- XML “The Famine Period”
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- One family - the Russells of Ednacarnon - existed on Swede turnips. At that time turnips were rather new in the country and therefore not plentiful. For instance, another neighbour, Mr. Finlay Gregg, the author's grandfather, had a garden of Swede turnips growing, and a servant man of his said that he would pull one but he was afraid to do so as his master had them counted.
The author's mother also said that beggars were very plentiful during the famine, and would eat the skins of the potatoes off the floor, when they came in, staggering with hunger. I asked the author why he said the "skins off the floor," and he said that in old times in this district, it was the custom of the country people to boil a pot of potatoes, to place the pot in the middle of the kitchen floor, and for the family to gather round the pot and peel the potatoes with their fingers - hence the "skins on the floor."
There were a few potatoes around here during the Famine, and the author could give me no account of people dying with hunger.
- Informant
- Robert Gregg
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 73
- Occupation
- Farmer
- Address
- Killydesert, Co. Donegal
