School: Glascorn (roll number 16615)

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1. The Old Houses (continued)

   

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   times on the middle of the floor but he never heard of houses having no chimney.

   They usually had a bed in the kitchen. It was placed by the back-wall and was called a settle-bed. My grandfather has a settle-bed an and it is placed at the back wall. In olden times there was no glass in the windows but instead they had iron bars and shutters which they closed at night. These were left open during the day. Every house in the district in olden times had a half door but half doors are not so common nowadays although they are still to be seen in some houses.

   Turf or wood was the only fuel available in those days because coal had not come to this district at that time and even if it had, the people had no way of burning it because the fireplace was on

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Thomas Casey

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Brottonstown, Co. Westmeath

   Informant

   Joseph Reilly

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   65

   Occupation

   Farmer

   Address

   Balleagny, Co. Westmeath