Azure Sky...now known as A.S...was wondering whether or not the people who lived in our cottage had been relatively well off...and the answer is that they were.
They had two cows and pigs and about ten acres of good land...there must have been a time when they kept a horse or horses because when I dug the garden over I found dozens of horse-shoes as well as tiny donkey shoes...
The land goes back beyond the cottage almost into the nearby village...we know for sure that the piece of ground immediately beyond the river bridge was planted with potatoes...further back were fields used for hay because there's actually a right of way right through our yard for the hay-carts...that's still in place...saw no reason to change it.
The bridge consists of rotting railway sleepers so I doubt anyone would be willingly to risk driving a fully laden cart and donkey across it...the wonky bridge is relatively recent...prior to it being put in place it was simply a ford across the water because a hundred years or so ago the level of the river changed when a new reservoir was built...further up stream is another ford where the old corn mill once stood.
We also know that our cottage was one of those frequently visited by Douglas Hyde...the first President of Ireland...he was a great advocate for keeping the Irish language alive and would come to our street to talk with the people who lived here in their native tongue...
The people who lived here may have been a cut above their neighbours but they still kept the cow indoors during the winter months...there is still the faint outline of the small door close to the hearth where the cow could come and go as she pleased. Remember those cows were not like the huge Friesians you see in the fields nowadays...these were small cows with long horns. Probably very tame as well, because they lived with the same people for all of their useful working lives.
So with milk from the cow to go to the creamery every day...eggs from the hens to sell at the weekly market and plenty enough land to grow enough potatoes and cabbages to feed a family...not to mention a crop of hay to either sell on or to keep for the cow and her calf and the donkey and horse...'our' people would have been thought well off.
We know too little about the people who lived here before Mikey and his family...all Mikey's sisters went to America...he stayed here after his parents passed on...but who lived here in the place we call home before Mikey's parents we haven't the faintest idea. Irish census records were destroyed...either from being pulped for the War effort or by fire in the records office...
So we have to put bits of information together...doors beside hearths were for the animals...children slept with the hens and the cats under the thatch...out-shots were used for those who were sick or for the old parents...Douglas Hyde came to our street because records say it was so...neighbours remember snippets from their childhood and from listening to the stories their grandparents told...Hubert and Paddy are brilliant for that...
It has been estimated that our cottage is probably about two hundred years old...that's according to the surveyor...I'd love to know who it was who built it...who was it that gathered masses of horsehair to mix with a rudimentary mortar to keep the stones in place...who gathered the reeds from the river bank for the thatch...
What happened to the dresser laden down with delph and the goose-wings to dust it...was there a Holy Water stoop just inside the back door?
A life time of tears and laughter are under your roof, what a shame you can't trace past owners, I know if you could you would have done,are there many like your cottage around you ?
They are all exactly the same as ours in our street except for Lorna who has a new build...three rooms in a row with a kitchen built on the back...everyone has their own variations...some have an extra room or rooms...but the basic cottages are the same.
It's a fine cottage, nice and long with a lovely big garden, I bet it is full of amazing energy and warm vibes! I just gave you a little farm on your other post so now you'll have to have some more lol!
Our old farm is a couple of hundred years old or so and was burnt out years ago , full of cattle by a mad farmer. 🐮🐮🐮🐴🐖🐖🐖🐖🐏🐏🐏🐏🐓🐔🐓🐔🐓🐔🐓🐔🐈🐕🐂🐐🐐🐐🐐🐒 xxx
For me, this is easy. I live in a red brick maisonette built in the 60's. When I applied, I think we waited for the previous lady to die!!!
Now I shall probably die in ths place.
did you know this was answered prayer. My wife and i were told to go from the previous flat because the landlady was becoming passed looking after the house. Her son sold the house. We were told to stay put until the council found us a falt.
I had visions of having to sleep on the beach! We had had a look at other places, but they were too expensive or simply too awkward to live in.
I payed to God if we could have a small flat with a ribbon of a garden and some clumps of trees around.
After waiting almost a very anxious year, the council redirected us. It was ideal We went to the carpet shop to have the flat carpetted before we went in. I liked it as soon as we went it. I also thanked God, because, indeed, we have a ribbon of a garden and outside the front garden there are some clumps of trees. My wife found it too small. Poor lady, she is now in a care home in the next village and has only one room; BUT it's a huge house!
I have enough room in my bedroom to set up a music stand and play my flute!
No this is not a historic cottage. My sister-in-law calls this a convenient box!!! All the same. I like it! Mic
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