School: Killygordon (roll number 11585)

Location:
Killygordon, Co. Donegal
Teacher:
M. Eibhlín Ní Loinsigh
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1099, Page 309

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1099, Page 309

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  3. XML “Famine Times”

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  1. Famine Times
    I do not know of any stories regarding the great Famine that happened in the year 1846-47. But I heard the old people talk about a potato failure. The people were dying with hunger and I believe it affected the district very much. The food that they had to eat at that time was something like what the cattle would be getting now.
    The district was thicker populated at that time than it is now and we can find the ruins of many houses still standing to this present day.
    It is thought that the blight came on the potatoes from too much rain, and that this rotted the potatoes in the ground.
    They had great trouble getting the seed for the next year's crop, but they gathered up small potatoes just the size of marbles, and put them in the ground.
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. time
      1. historical periods by name (~25)
        1. the great famine (~4,013)
    Language
    English
    Collector
    Maud Guthrie
    Gender
    Female
    Address
    Killygordon, Co. Donegal
    Informant
    Mrs Guthrie
    Gender
    Female
    Age
    80
    Address
    Killygordon, Co. Donegal