School: Aughaconey
- Location:
- Aghaconny, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: S. Mac Síomóin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0989, Page 279
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- XML School: Aughaconey
- XML Page 279
- XML “Famine Times”
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- In my district the people still have stories about the famine of 1866 & 67. It affected my district very much because before that tiem it was more thickly populated than it is now.
It was not a blifhg that came on the potatoes but a black scab. The potatoes failed and decayed in the pots after they were dug. They following year the people had no potatoes but they got seed from Scotland and other countries. This seed was sown like vals.
During the famine the people had no food and England sent over Indian meal to relieve them. This meal used to be boiled and distributed through the country. It used to be given to the people of this district at Denn Church. Before England sent the meal the people were so hungry that they used to eat grass and draw the cows blood to nourish themselves.
People died in great numbers in my district during the famine. After the famine there came a disease called black fever and there died about fifty people in the townland of Aughaconey.(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Maggie O Reilly
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Aghaconny, Co. Cavan
