School: Kells (Parochial) (roll number 5062)
- Location:
- Kells, Co. Meath
- Teacher: Vera C. Hodges
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0703, Page 369
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- Mrs. Reilly lives at Castlekieran. She was mixing the food for her hens and chickens when I got to her house. She sells the eggs in Kells and the money pays for any odds and ends she wants for herself or the house. She churns all her own butter and sells any extra in Kells too.
She asked me to come inside and led me into the kitchen; there was a glowing turf fire on the open hearth and over the fire hung a kettle on its hook. She explained that the fire is made up at night and the ashes raked in the morning to uncover the "gríosaigh" (gree-see), or red embers. More turf is put on these and so the fire never really goes out. Mrs Reilly does her baking - bread and cakes - in a plain iron pot oven covered with a flat lid. When in use the oven is surrounded with glowing turf.
The turf is obtained in a bog two or three miles away in the Cavan direction The Reillys rent a bank in the bog at thirty shillings a year. They cut, save, and draw home the turf themselves.
When the kettle boiled we had a cup of tea. To eat we had wheaten bread, and butter churned at home and sweet cake with sultanas(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Vera C. Hodges
- Gender
- Female
