School: Mín (roll number 13938)

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1. Old Houses

   

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   Old houses
   I have heard an old man named John Sweeney talking about the old houses in this district. When he was a boy about fifty years ago there was no slate house in this district. They were all thatched. The thatching was of rushes or straw. The rushes were cut with a scythe and left to dry. Then they were drawn home and pulled. that is the grass was pulled out of them and the clean rushes were made into bundles and tied. In this district there were tradesmen called thatchers and they were never unemployed.The fire was kept at the gable wall. The front of the chimneys were made of mortar and sticks called wattles. The firing was generally turf and bog-deal. In the farmers' houses there was only one room and a kitchen and in the poor houses there was no room. There was a bed called a settle-bed in every kitchen. It was used as a bed by night and a table by day. The old people long ago made their own candles and matches and this is how it was done. Nearly every farmer killed a cow and the women melted the fat into a

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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

   Daniel O' Connor

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Tooreenmore, Co. Kerry