School: Louth (C.) (roll number 3252)

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1. The Famine (continued)

   

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   in Borlee in which soup was distributed according to the size of the family. There was a 100 gallon boiler boiled every day. The soup was a mixture of rice and oaten meal. Nancy Finnegan from Drumcamill used to go over every day with her children and get a pint for every child. So the people in Channonrock lingered on until three cargoes of wheat came from America. The people paid 2/6 per stone for this and boiled it with turnips and made gruel. The effects of the famine lingered among the people for years. Some of the small farmers got into debt with the big farmers and when they could not pay back, the big farmer took their lands. Then emigration to America started and as we know from history that between those who died of hunger and sickness owing to the Famine and those who left the country there were only 41/2 millions out of nine million people in Ireland. It is said the year before the Famine there were so many potatoes that the people threw them behind the ditches.
   Another incident which happened during the famine occured in our own house. This

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Eveline Byrne

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Chanonrock, Co. Louth

   Informant

   Owen Dooley

   Gender

   Male