School: St. Joseph's, Illies
- Location:
- Illies, Co. Donegal
- Teacher: F. Loughlin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1112, Page 463
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- XML School: St. Joseph's, Illies
- XML Page 463
- XML “Famine Times”
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- Famine Times
17=1=1938
The year before the Famine there was a great crop of potatoes but when they couldn't get them sold they started to fire them at other and then they dumped them on the street to rot and that is supposed to be the cause of the Famine.
It affected this district so much that the people had to eat pounded nettles and surags [?] and turnips mixed with a little salt.
The population was bigger then that it is now because there are the ruins of several houses in which people lived formerly.
The people had no tobacco, flour, sugar or tea and they lived on their own oatmeal and potatoes, milk, butter and eggs.
In the year of the Famine the potatoes rotted in the ground and a man might be digging for a day and not get the full of his cap. A large number of people died here during the Famine; others left the place and were never heard of more.(continues on next page)
- Collector
- John Mc Daid
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Illies, Co. Donegal
- Informant
- John Kelly
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Illies, Co. Donegal
