Improving Landlord One of the best landlords in Ireland was Richard Edgeworth who ran his estate at Edgeworthstown from 1782 to 1817. Edgeworth never ...
Turf footers Women and men worked together to ‘save’ the turf. Once the turf had been cut it was footed – set up with 5 or 6 pieces of turf leaning ...
Bog Village Bog village in Co. Roscommon grew up after 1780 when land-hungry peasants reclaimed local bog land for potato cultivation. Even marginal ...
Cottier’s Budget This income and expenditure account was presented by Arthur Young in his Tour in Ireland (1780). It shows just how precarious an ...
Irish peasant Many cottiers rented a small plot of land from tenant farmers. These men often worked as labourers for other farmers, receiving wages ...
Pig Fair In the early part of the 19th century a common Irish saying was that ‘the pig paid the rent’. For many poor farmers this was literally ...
Wooden Sieve In other areas simple wooden sieves were used in preference to the winnowing tray. They were always made from local materials and ...
Shelling Hills This photograph was taken at the beginning of the 19th century, but it records a skill used by farmers a century earlier. You can see ...
Haymaking Haymaking in the summer in the late 18th century involved the use of the scythe and the hayfork. This John Nixon painting shows hay ...
Wooden plough In the early part of the 19th century the Scotch iron plough became widely used in Ireland. Before that this type of wooden plough, ...
