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HISTORY Life
in the 1800's
The
First Report of Commissioners Poor Laws (Ireland)
1836 gives an insight into the living conditions of the people of the area.
As in
other parts of Ireland, poverty prevailed. While there
were some stone-wall houses most people lived in poor mud-wall buildings.
Their diet would have consisted of potatoes and buttermilk.
They had very small plots of land on which they had to pay annual rent of
between ten shillings and one pound per annum.
About 400 men in the parish were described as “labourers”.
They would have earned about ten pennies for the day’s work.
Large numbers of men would migrate throughout
Ireland
and England
looking for work during the harvest season.
Emigration to America
did not really become a major factor until the Famine struck.
The
pre-Famine population of the parish was between 8,000 and 9,000, with 1,000
children attending schools.
Limited
education was available through the “hedge-schools”.
The Commissioners report of 1826/27 lists 8 hedge schools in the parish.
The report states the location of the school, the name and religion of the
teacher, the number of pupils in the school and it comments on the condition of
the school building. Most schools
were attended by a mixture of Protestant and Catholic pupils.
| Townland |
Teacher |
Religion |
Pupils |
School Building |
| Derrinweir |
Thomas McGuire |
Prot |
32 |
Stone & Lime |
| Coolegrane |
Peter Cassidy |
Cath |
99 |
A miserable building |
| Killydiskert |
Bryan Kealeher |
|
70 |
A building of clay and rushes |
| Drumkeerin |
Mary Ovens |
Prot |
48 |
Lime and stone cabin |
| Doughlargy |
Cormack McPartlon |
Cath |
67 |
An old cow house |
| Muddurah |
Michael Christy |
Cath |
61 |
A wretched cabin |
| Carracormick |
Patrick Corkran |
Cath |
68 |
A cabin with accomodations |
| Cloonamorgan |
Bartley McGieskin |
Cath |
34 |
A rented cabin |
Another
Commission in 1835 reported that there were then 13 schools in the parish, with
a total of 871 pupils attending. The
largest of these was the school
of Cormack McPartlon
with 86 pupils on the roll.
A century later, in 1946, the population of the parish had dropped to 2,071 and
in 1954 there were only 261 pupils enrolled in the local schools.
Today (2008), the number of pupils attending the three local primary
schools is about 115.
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