Thank you to Len and Ron for all that you share with us.
I greatly appreciate the snippets from past records. In this case, Ron
has given us a good reflection from our distance.
The Ordnance Survey writer could only share /his opinions/ and is always
writing for a particular audience. It is a /Statistical /memoir, as he
sees things from his position. I imagine his surprise if he knew many of
the same /people /would shortly be in a new land, progressive community
members, building fine homes and businesses (always upgrading as means
allowed), and an integral part of church and community.
Susan Black
On 2018-10-26 5:50 AM, Ron McCoy via CoTyroneList wrote:
Hi Len and all
Thank you Len for sharing this with all of us. I read this and many
other pieces of history. I notice the trend through out of the lack
of mention of positive attributes of the common people. Empathy for
another human being is completely devoid in these reports. The time
period scribes never seems to mention how hard working these people
are, how close knit the families be, the way communities work together
or the weight of unfair and unjust economic burdens they struggle
under and still survive and more they insist on thriving in the face
of great adversity. I think these Ordinances are important pieces of
history not as much about what they report or say on the surface to
us but because they tell us a lot about the writer and the class
structure he dwells in. It seems important to him to paint a portrait
of the Irish working class people at a level of sub human strata (you
may see pigs and fowls eating in the kitchen and everything is dirty
). The considerable hardships people are forced to live in are
justified because of their moral depravity, "49th: It is believed that
there is at least an improvement in the morals and cleanliness of
children attending Sunday Schools". This article to me paints a
picture of a people who are brave in the face of over whelming
poverty, and unjust taxation without representation overseen by
absentee land lords. It speaks to me of a devotion to preserve the
family and traditions at all costs. As people who are forced to
struggle, their hope lies in their children and their children's,
children, in other words "us". They would not allow themselves to
quit, be broken, or trodden under, despite the written word, legal
system and their betters opinion. They refused to think of themselves
as less then any mans equal. They put all their hopes in the
generations to come, they sacrificed everything to bring "us" into a
safer , a better place... may we not let them down, may we never
forget who they were and what they sacrificed for ,"us", for ,"me".
What they did was not easy and it was not pretty but they did it, a
better world for us, those like us, those like them and those still to
come. May we be able to say the same.... Thank you Len for bringing
these pieces of history to us.
Cheers
Ron McCoy
On 2018-10-25 10:20 PM, Gail Mooney via CoTyroneList wrote:
Thanks Len - Even knowing the history of those hard times, this piece
paints a pretty grim picture of the environments our people endured
as they struggled to survive. I imagine depression was common in the
population - reminds me to be more grateful for my lucky circumstances.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From: *"Len Swindley via CoTyroneList"
<[email protected]>
*To: *[email protected]
*Cc: *"Len Swindley" <[email protected]>
*Sent: *Thursday, October 25, 2018 7:02:19 PM
*Subject: *[CoTyroneMailingList] Observations on the Inhabitants of
Clogher Parish, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland 1833-5
Hello Listers;
There has been recent interest expressed in the lives of our Tyrone
forbears (thanks to Elwyn) and here is an extract from the Ordnance
Survey Memoirs of the 1820s-30s that offers some observations on
living conditions in Clogher parish. Having read through many of the
memoirs covering the parishes of Co. Tyrone, this report could be
applied similarly to all parishes.
Len Swindley, Melbourne, Australia
EXTRACTED FROM /ORDNANCE MEMOIRS OF IRELAND: PARISHES OF COUNTY
TYRONE VOL. 1/ (INSTITUTE OF IRISH STUDIES, QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY OF
BELFAST) (1990)
STATISTICAL MEMOIR BY LIEUTENANT R. STOTHERD
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS:
THE HABITS OF THE PEOPLE
42nd: There is very little order, cleanliness, or neatness in general
to be found either in the houses or of the more wealthy farmers or in
the cottages of the poor. The turf stack often approaches within a
few yards of the door and thus intersects the view and stops the
currency of the air. The yard in front of the house is full of the
odour of the cow house and stable, for they are often built in the
very front and sometime adjoining the dwellinghouse. The lanes and
approaches to the house are narrow, rough and filthy in the extreme.
Within no order is visible; you may see pigs and fowls eating in the
kitchen and everything is dirty and confused, the furniture a few
pots and noggins, a stool or a broken chair. The potatoes at meals
are thrown out in a basket and so laid on the table or on a stool,
and the whole family gather round, master, mistress, children and
servants in a mass, and eat out of the basket without knife, fork or
any appendage at meals. A man who can give his daughter in marriage
50 or 100 pounds will live in this manner. But this is not
universally the case: sometimes everything is seen comfortable, neat
and clean, both within and without the farmhouse, the furniture good
and decent, the kitchen neatly tiled, the outside of the house well
whitewashed and thatched, the yard and lanes about the house in good
repair and clean. It is, however, to be regretted that very few
instances occur where this order and decency is observed.
FOOD
44th: Potatoes and milk is the general food of the farmers of this
barony, for breakfast, dinner and supper during 9 months of the year.
This is sometimes varied by a bit of bacon for dinner, sometimes
butter and oaten bread or eggs are added to the potatoes for dinner.
In 3 of the summer months when potatoes begin to fail, stirabout or
flummery is substituted for potatoes, for breakfast or supper.
45th: The same report will serve for the manufacturing class and
tradespeople.
46th: Potatoes and milk, or when milk grows scarce potatoes or
herrings, or potatoes and salt is almost the only food of the poor
inhabitants during the entire year. Occasionally a little stirabout
is added for supper or breakfast in the summer months.
EDUCATION
47th: There is certainly a general desire of instruction in all
classes of the people, both Protestants and Roman Catholics. The poor
are anxious to teach their children reading, writing and arithmetic,
and although the facilities for the education of the Roman Catholics
is not so great as for the Protestants, being hindered by their
priests from attending Sunday and other schools, yet there is
certainly a desire in the minds even of the Roman Catholics for the
education of their children.
48th: The children of the poor pay for their education according to
the following rates: for spelling and reading, for writing for
arithmetic, for book-keeping [blank]
49th: It is believed that there is at least an improvement in the
morals and cleanliness of children attending Sunday Schools. They are
not permitted to attend unless they are clean and they are expelled
if any gross immorality be committed. It is also hoped that there is
in the inhabitants in general, a greater respect for the laws, fewer
quarrels and less fighting than formerly
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