School: Cratloe (C.)
- Location:
- Cratloe, Co. Clare
- Teacher: Máire Ní Shitric
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0597, Page 125
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- In olden times in Ireland bread making was the principal duty of the housewife in every home. The people were not so well off so they are now and their chief food was bread, potatoes and milk. The bread was always made of either yellow meal and a small quantity of white or nearly white flour and sometimes potato flour made out of grated potatoes and a small lot of white flour mixed. It was only at Christmas or Easter or at special occasions white flour bread was made. The white flour then was by no means as clear or good as the flour nowadays as there are chemicals used now to make the flour light and white but these were unheard of even a century ago.
The flour then was made out of wheat and oats and crushed between two querns. These querns were round brown stones with a hole in the centre for the grains to be put in and the flour taken out. These are not used for at least fifty years as mills were erected in places throughout the country and people brought their grain there to be made into flour.
The people nowadays do not bring home(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Helen Punch
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Cratloemoyle, Co. Clare
- Informant
- Mrs J. Punch
- Relation
- Parent
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Cratloemoyle, Co. Clare
