School: Ballycumber (C.)

On this page

1. Old Houses

   

   Share Share Post

   All the houses long ago were thatched. They were built of limestone, the walls of the houses were two feet thick. Some of them were called "mud wall cabins" because they were built of yellow clay.

   The bed used to be kept in a corner far away from the door. The fire was in the gable end of the house. The chimney was made of wattles. There was often no chimney on some houses and in that case an old crandy or bucket was put on top of the house.

   The floors were made of yellow clay. In old times the windows were taxed and anyone who could not afford to pay for them used to build up the windows.
   Every house long ago had a half door. They made fires with turf and sticks and that gave them light at night.

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

2. Old Houses

   

   Share Share Post

   

   You are not logged in, but you are welcome to contribute a transcription anonymously. In this case, your IP address will be stored in the interest of quality control.

   Long ago the houses of all Irish peasantry were usually mud wall cabins thatched with straw and sometimes rushes. They always had

   (continues on next page)

   Save Cancel

   Transcription guide »

   By clicking the save button you agree that your contribution will be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License and that a link to dúchas.ie is sufficient as attribution.

   Topics

   1. objects
      1. man-made structures
         1. buildings
            1. residential buildings (~2,723)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Mary Ford

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Ballycumber, Co. Offaly

   Informant

   Joseph Donohue

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   25

   Address

   Ballycumber, Co. Offaly