School: Cloonmorris (roll number 12496)

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1. Old Houses

   

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   In olden times all houses were thatched with heather and reeds. The houses only contained one room and kitchen, and all the family slept in that one room. The walls (which were made of mud and plastered with ashes) were generally [propped?], as the [?] wall would not be [hand/hard?] shoved in after rain. It was not unusual, to see cows and pigs in the kitchen of [any?] house. There were no windows nor chimneys on the house either and the door had to be used as an outlet for the smoke.
   In a certain house the rain used to come in, [?] the chimney (which was a hole in the roof) in winter. When the man's wife and children would go to [bed?], the man would hold the umbrella over them, while they slept. Then the wife would hold the umbrella over the man while he slept and they got on very well.
   The tables in the old houses would be attached to the wall with hinges, and when it would be needed it would be taken down, and when it would not be needed, it would be left standing up against the wall. The fires were on the middle of the floor and the smoke escaped through a hole in the blackened roof. The homes long ago were very draughty, owing to the bad building and there was a small opening left in the wall to let in air and light, supposed to be a [window?]

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. objects
      1. man-made structures
         1. buildings
            1. residential buildings (~2,723)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Teresa Beirne

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Edercloon, Co. Longford

   Informant

   Mrs Coote Geelan

   Gender

   Female

   Age

   60

   Address

   Cloonageeher, Co. Longford