School: Clonlara
- Location:
- Cloonlara, Co. Clare
- Teacher: Dll. Ó Heoghanáin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0585, Page 078
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- XML Page 078
- XML “Black 47”
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- Black 47 as the famine year was called followed the year of plenty the crops were so abundant that year that they were not all used, they were left by the ditches. The population of Ireland numbered upwards of eight millions, families of ten and twelve lived on from three to five acres they had an acre of potatoes a share of corn and a cow or goats. They dug the acre with spades they took off the fallow or top scraw and burned it with the ashed of the fallow mixed with a share of manure and turf mould they manured the land. The taking off the scraw made the land easly tilled. An acre of potatoes gave enough food for the family with goats milk, herrings and salt. They threshed the corn with flales, they sold the greater part of it for to pay the rent. And they straw they used for beds and to tatch the house.
They ground the spare corn with quern[?] stones the round flat stones with an iron bar through the middle used before the windmill or water mills. Two persons worked the grinding one turned the stones and(continues on next page)
- Informant
- Malachy Dinneen
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 79
- Occupation
- Farmer
- Address
- Kilmore, Co. Clare
