School: Knocktemple (B.)

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1. The Famine Period (continued)

   

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   of the Marquis of Headfort, of which he was the Agent.
   The last generation - the survivors of The Famine - were people of splendid build, the men especially, and the feats of strength, amount of work done in a day, journeys travelled and hardships endured seem quite incredible in this age. A man named Tom Fitzsimons Beherna was able to seize a three year old untrained horse by the ear and nose and lead it anywhere he desired despite the frantic plunges of the animal. This man was six feet two inches in height and weighed, in his prime, eighteen stone. There are men alive who saw him perform this feat - among them his brother Matthew, Old Age Pensioner Knockaraheen.
   A blacksmith named Pat Galligan - "the clisher[?]" amused himself by driving young horses owned by Pat O'Reilly into a corner of a field, when Galligan watching an opportunity, would spring on the back of the animal nearest him and keep his seat without the aid of saddle or bridle until the animal stopped through sheer exhaustion. There are several men living around this school who formed part of a crowd of amazed onlookers.
   Potatoes were set in ridges and two men were able to set from a rood to half-an-acre in a day. To the present time fields are pointed out where mighty tasks were performed.
   Oats was cut with the hook and three men to the acre was the usual standard of work. One woman bound or tied

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

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