School: Adoon (roll number 11152)
- Location:
- Adoon, Co. Leitrim
- Teacher: Charles Flynn
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0222, Page 331
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- XML “The Famine”
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- The Famine years were 1846 and 1847. It is supposed that the complete failure of the potato-crop in 1846 caused the famine. The potato stalks were all cut away by a blight before they matured and when they were dug out, and put in heaps they all rotted.The poor people sold their oats, and that left them without any support. Hundreds of poor women, and children died of starvation. The district was thickly populated before that, and there are many traces of old houses to be seen yet. The seed for the following year was very poor. There were small potatoes left in the ground, and the people picked them up, and shook them broad - cast like oats. The relief the Government gave was Indian meal but it did not reach the district in time. Some poor people eat turnips-tops, and any greens they could find. A terrible disease followed the famine called the "black fever" and hundreds of people died.Some years later there was a nother failure of the potato-crop which made it very hard for the people again.
- Collector
- Mary Alice Mc Gowan
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Edergole, Co. Leitrim
