Shelli's blog: Ulster Folk Museum

The rural area of the Folk Museum boasts of 60 acres steeped in history. We still have many acres to cover. =)

Meenagarragh Cottier's House

"In the 1841 Census of Ireland, County Down had the highest standard of housing of all the counties of Ireland, yet about a quarter of all its houses were small one-roomed dwellings, often referred to as cabins. While this later example is of stone, cabins were more usually built of sods. Local unproved tradition maintains that this house was built in the 1880s as accommodation for a widow related to the family living across the road (the townland boundary) from the Cruckaclady farmhouse.
Houses of this type had no land apart from a small garden plot on which the family could grow potatoes, a major part of their diet.
In 1807, the poet Andrew McKenzie of Ballywalter, County Down, writing under his pen-name of Philip McClabber, described his life in such a house as this:
    "My mansion is a clay-built cot,
     My whole domain a garden plot.
     ….
     So little straw defends the roof
     Against the rain it is not proof."
McKenzie, his wife and "six naked children" lived on a diet largely comprised of potatoes and water, and for this each 1st May he paid a rent of thirty shillings (£1.50), which in 1807 would have been a small fortune. With living conditions such as these, and frequently worse, it is little wonder that the repeated failure of the potato crop in the 1840s had such a devastating effect on the Irish countryside.
Original location: Meenagarragh townland, near Plumbridge, County Tyrone."

This house was the smallest and smelliest of all the houses we would visit. The damp had really settled in and the straw in the roof and the coals in the fire made for a bad smell. I think our travel trailer is a foot or so longer than this.

Meenagarragh Cottier

fireplace and sleeping area

kitchen area

Cruckaclady Farmhouse

I could not imagine living in this house it was a nice size but having the animals live in the downstairs under the bedroom would be smelly. Economical though.

"This farmhouse was built during the 19th century as one of an irregular cluster of dwellings called a clachan. It very cleverly used the lie of the land to include a byre under the bedroom. This saved considerably on the materials and labour needed to provide shelter for both humans and animals, and the positioning of the byre at the lower end of the house meant that effluent flowed away from the dwelling.
Among its early occupants was an elderly couple who had a servant girl from County Donegal. It was common for young boys and girls to attend the spring 'Hiring Fair' and be hired as farm labourers or domestic servants for six months. They would get paid at the main autumn fair and return home for the winter months. In this way families in poorer areas, such as west Donegal ,could acquire cash with which to pay the annual rent.
It was moved from the Glenelly Valley, an upland area in the Sperrin Mountains in County Tyrone. The farm comprised about 7 acres (2.8 hectares) of arable land close to the house and more distant mountain grazing for cattle and sheep.
Original location: Cruckaclady townland, near Plumbridge, County Tyrone"

Cruckaclady Farmhouse

main floor living area

Sarah and Samuel on the stairs to the bedroom

bedroom

byre or barn under the house

byre door

Ballyveagh Farm

"This farm had been home to four generations of the Baird family, until shortly before being acquired by the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum in the late 1980s. The property, built of Mourne granite in the 1840s, was moved from its location in the Mourne Mountains in south County Down.

The farm was typical of the area, with about 10 acres (4 hectares) mixed farming of arable and livestock. The dwelling is a simple two-roomed house, kitchen and bedroom, with a central hearth. The floors are of packed earth with flagstones laid around the threshold and at the hearth where foot traffic is at its heaviest.
At various times the dwelling has been added to by the building of outhouses for farm storage and accommodation for animals and poultry. The farmyard is laid out as a 'street' - a line of buildings, as opposed to a courtyard layout."

this goose gave Sarah a hard time, she would not let her past.

This chicken had to be named Dolly Parton, she was blond with big hair and very busy.


Ballyveagh Farm - house and barns

Magheragallan Byre-dwelling

Byre-dwelling you have to know where this one is going with out even looking inside. In our day and age it is impossible to imagine living with the animals under the house but right in the house is even worse. The kids did think their aunt might like it so she could have her new coal right close by.

"To us this combined dwelling house and cattle byre might represent extremely grim living conditions, but it probably wasn't as unhealthy as we might imagine.
After a while the smell would not be noticed and throughout the winter the animals provided a certain amount of heat. It would be wrong to imagine that these people cared any less about hygiene than we do - standards were simply different.
Built of local granite, the structure was originally located in County Donegal on the north-western coast of Ireland. The practice of housing people and animals together links the west of Ireland with the rest of the Atlantic fringe of Europe - the same arrangement is found in Scandinavia, Scotland, Brittany and Galicia.
The house was one of a cluster of houses (clachan).
The attached farm consisted of 2 acres (0.8 hectares) of arable land and commonage, the right to graze cattle and sheep on common land, of 60 acres (24.3 hectares). Life on this farm was harsh, the land was generally of poor quality and the location was one that offered few comforts. The thatch is tied down to stone pegs built into the walls to preserve it from the full force of Atlantic weather.
The 2 acres of arable land enabled the family to grow potatoes and some winter feed for their cattle. The thick wool coats of sheep meant they could survive the rigors of winter weather but cattle needed shelter. By spring several tons of manure would be removed from the byre and used as fertilizer.
Original location: Megheragallan townland, Burtonport, County Donegal"