The cabins in which the peasantry lived 1606-1845 were to be described as hovels, the walls were a mixture of mud kneaded with straw and the roof was made of bogwood rafters raised from the top of the mud walls and covered with thatch, often made from potato stalks or turf sods. The walls were about, two feet thick and seven feet high. A small fire was lit in a grate in the middle of the what was usually the only room, and the family sat around the fire at night for warmth. These cabins had no chimneys , so the only way the smoke could escape was via the door, and sometimes the door was blocked up to keep out the wind and rain and it has been written that this is what caused the high level of blindness in the country. The cabins of the crofters and spalpeens ( landless labourers and travellers) were no more than long sticks placed against a bank in a slanting position, with the other side being build of clay. The roof once again being made with tree branches potato stalks, heath and straw and mud. These particular cabins were built no higher than the bank, so they were hidden from view from, until a person wandered too close. In 1838 the travel writer Henry Inglis noted that rents in Wicklow were intolerably high, and that the rents could not be paid by the produce of the land by either Catholic or Protestant peasantry. A labourer is he was lucky earnt 6d. per day, and the rent for the cabin was extracted before payment was made, so there was little more than 4½d per day left to support a wife and four children, potatoes in this time being 4d a stone. The Agricultural labourer paid his rent in labour and received no money for wage, he had a small plot of land attached to his cabin on which he grew potatoes for his family. And Life for someone with no land must have been impossible, these being the people who had to rely on another to be allowed to sublet a plot of ground. And the workhouse awaited for those who could not exist this way. What did they eat ? By 1600 the Irish diet had already undergone a major change, the milk and meat based tradition of Gaelic Ireland have overlapped with the Norma's taste for cereals. Cattle were by far the most important animal along with sheep and pigs being kept for food. Milk, butter-milk, cheese and curds were the staple foods, butter being heavily salted to be kept for winter. With the introduction of cereals particularly Oats, the problem of providing a variety of foods in the non dairy season was greatly reduced. Oats and wheat were made into bread and porridge, the foods being supplemented with what could be found in the natural elements such as fish, honey, berries, watercress, hazelnuts and game. Drinks were made from cereals and flavoured with honey and wild fruits. What caused the move towards the potato as the staple and indeed only food in many peoples diet was the scorched earth policies of Cromwellian Armies, many times before livestock had been slaughtered in the fields and corn burned, or cut down while it was still green, the potato was seen as a crop that would withstand this devastation, as it could remain below the soil until it was harvested. The high yield of this and high nutritional value of the potato made it and ideal choice for the poor tenant. This continued into the 18th Century until the potato became the staple and major food of the majority as whole in the country of Ireland. I don't have to enlighten you about the end result of this knowing you all know of the 1840's famine ordeal. ©Cara_Links Researching Co.Wicklow,Wexford. A headstone or two, a dusting of elsewhere A friend is one who accepts your past, loves you as you are, and believes in all of your tomorrow's. ***Please remind me if I have not done that job for you, my intentions are always good, but sometimes time runs out on me, so I leave it up to you to remind me.