School: Abbeytown Convent N.S. (roll number 15043)

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1. Old Houses (continued)

   

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   as possible. The floors were made of daub and even to the present day daub floors are common in small thatched houses. We notice in viewing one of those small houses, that there is a part of the back wall in the kitchen, built further out than the rest- this was the ''pouch'' or ''leabait 'sa clús as the old people called it. It was a bed, in the daytime they drew a home, spun curtain along on the outside of it to hide it, and to keep the fowl, cat, or dog from dirting it.

   Though those houses were badly lighted during the day owing to the windows been so miserably small they were almost completely in the dark at night. The light they had at night was called ''bottle . light''. They procured an ink . bottle corked it with a potato through which they passed a strong twine. The bottle as filled with ''lamp oil'' and the tine was dropped into it. This bottle of ''Lamp oil'' would be sufficient to keep them in light for about a month, and indeed they did their utmost to spare it.

   The present generation should be very thankful that they weren't born in those days when poverty, starvation, pestilence and plague prevailed, but should be delighted that they were born in an age of peace.

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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

   Informant

   Mr Patrick Martin

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Boyle, Co. Roscommon