Paying the Rent
A peasant girl in a typical house in Leitrim in the 1840's
This is an illustration of a peasant girl in the 1840's in Ireland. She would not have been very poor as her clothes are not rags and she looks healthy.
A peasant girl in a typical house in Leitrim in the 1840's
A peasant girl in a typical house in Leitrim in the 1840's
This is an illustration of a peasant girl in the 1840's in Ireland. She would not have been very poor as her clothes are not rags and she looks healthy.
It was very common for poor families to keep a pig. The pig became part of the family and was normally kept indoors and fattened all year. The reason it was so important was that it was sold each year to pay the rent to the landlord. If the pig died before it could be sold, there was often no money to pay the rent. This sometimes led to eviction.
Potatoes were grown in the small plot provided with the house. This was the family's primary food, especially in Leitrim, as the soil was too soggy to grow anything else.
Woman and Child Beside the Fire
This is an illustration of a woman and child sitting beside the hearth to keep warm. It originally appeared in the book 'Ireland: Its Scenery, Character and History', by Mr and Mrs S.C. Hall.
Woman and Child Beside the Fire
Woman and Child Beside the Fire
This is an illustration of a woman and child sitting beside the hearth to keep warm. It originally appeared in the book 'Ireland: Its Scenery, Character and History', by Mr and Mrs S.C. Hall.
Housing Conditions: A Commentary
Housing conditions for the poor in Ireland in the nineteenth century were some of the worst ever recorded in the British Isles.
In 1880, Mr and Mrs S.C. Hall, in their book Ireland: Its Scenery, Character and History wrote the following:
'It is impossible not to mourn over the general aspect of the cottages. The tents of the Red Indians ... are constructed with a greater degree of care, and more attention to their rude notions of comfort, than the cabin an Irish peasant erects on the side of the road or mountain.'