Abstract: Story collected by a student at Dunboyne school (Dunboyne, Co. Meath) (no informant identified).
Original reference: 0688/3/28
School Dunboyne [Vol. 0688, Chapter 0003]
County The Schools' Manuscript Collection : County Meath Schools
Old Houses [duchas:4966685]
Old Houses There are about twenty very old mud walled houses in this parish of Dunboyne. The walls in these are very thick some of them are as thick as three feet. The roofs are thatched just as they were eighty years ago. The kitchen floor in most is made of clay or was until lately. The fire was on the hearth and wood was the fire in use with
Old Houses [duchas:4966686]
sometimes turf. In nearby all there was a bed in the kitchen called the "Settle bed" This was a sort of box on hinges and closed up during the day. When opened for the night the bed was spread out on the floor of the box and though without springs was quite comfortable. On each side of the fire there was a "hurl" about six feet from the ground. Flax soap
Old Houses [duchas:4966687]
etc were left to dry there. Baking was done on a griddle pan or oven beside the fire on the hob. Half doors are still common in the district. Reilly's Hughe's Brady's Bourke's Kelly's and Dowdalls have half doors. For light at night rush candles were used. The rushes were peeled but a small strip of skin was left at one side this was dipped in melted fat in a
Old Houses [duchas:4966688]
vessel called a "grisset". Of course a large bundle of candles was necessary for the night
Original reference: 0688/3/28
Old Houses
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright of the original resource: University College Dublin
To use for commercial purposes, please contact the National Folklore Collection, UCD - See: http://n2t.net/ark:/87925/h1cc0xm5