Imagine living on an island of 20 people, no plumbing or electricity. If you want to eat, you better grow it, catch it, or hope someone will pity you tonight. Imagine living with 9 other people in a space no bigger than 10 bathtubs. Visiting the island felt like vacation, lush green, beautiful views, a wonderful beach. For the people that lived there when they saw the grass they thought of the animals and crops that needed tending too. When they saw the view they thought of the currents and how strong they would be fighting them as they row to fish and retrieve things from the mainland. When they saw the beach they thought of the seaweed they had to collect as fertilizer and the children they had lost who wandered off the edge of the cliffs.
Eilís Ní Shúilleabháin, describes the hardships of living in the Blaskest in Letters from the Great Blasket. I slept sound until morning, when I opened the door it was not so grand a view I got. I first set my eyes on the sea, but alas no hope either today of a boat crossing. If it was fine and sunny on the land itself here we don’t call it fine until the sea is calm.
The people of the Blaskets hunted and fished for food, and if there was no luck there was no food. Marine resources included seals, porpoises, sea otters, lobster, crab, crayfish, mackerel, whiting, Pollock, herring, rockfish, eel, bass, seaweed, mussels, and shellfish. Crops included oats, rye, potatoes, cabbage, onions, turnips, parsnips, wheat, corn, hay, flax, and carrots. Livestock and domesticated animals included cattle, dairy cows, pigs, sheep, donkeys, chickens, and dogs. The donkey was the work animal for the island people because of its uneven hilly terrain the donkey did well to assist the islanders. A few wheeled carts were used, but islanders usually placed panniers across a donkey’s back to carry turf, furze, or other supplies. Game included rabbits, seals, otters, geese, puffins, razorbills, guillemots, and ducks.
Someone else’s misfortune becomes your lucky day. There were no trees on the islands. Most materials were obtained from driftwood and shipwrecks. Cargo from shipwrecks occasionally provided a variety of goods, such as timber, copper, tin and brass items, casks of oil, crates of tea, wine, clothing, cotton bales, packaged foods and fruits.
If you wanted a place to live then you better build one. Houses were built out if rock and packed with clay made by the man of the house, not men, but man. Early roofs were a rough thatch mix of rush fronds, furze, and other grasses, all held in place with nets and stones. The islands lacked long grasses better suited to refined forms of thatching. These thatched roofs didn’t allow for the flow of air and many people died from Whooping cough. After cloth covered in tar was used for the Naomhóg, canoes, this was used for the roofing of houses. House floors were packed clay, with stones around the hearth. Walls in some later houses were constructed of mortared stone, and chimneys of brick.
Furnishing was little but they made use of what they had. A house typically had a bed, main table, chairs or stools of wood, and cupboards or dressers. For lighting, most relied on the light of the turf fire in evenings, and would leave the door open when possible in daytime. A mirror might be hung by the door to reflect the daylight into the room. A limited number of oil lamps were used, while most relied on peat fires for evening light. Oil from seal livers could be distilled into candle or lamp oil.
The Great Blasket is estimated to have reached a peak population of about 200 people in the early 1900s. The island’s population decreased during following that, as emigration to America or to the mainland drew children away. The few remaining residents were evacuated from the island in 1954. Although life was hard it wasn’t a terrible place no one could bare to live on. Most Irish Catholic citizens on the mainland had lost their lands and were living on small lands with potato their main food for its high calorie content. When the great famine attacked in 1845 people lost their lands and moved to the island for refuge. And reluctantly in 1953 when evacuation began people left the island in no hurry, family by family, saying goodbye to their home.
Standing on the boat, seeing the houses of the Blaskets get smaller and smaller I could only imagine what it felt like for the Islanders to be in this same position. Leaving everything they new for a new home. Their memories all staged on the Blaskets were all they had left. Some traveled the 3 miles to the mainland to settle in Dunquin, Dingle, Kerry. Others wanted to join the rest or their family and try their luck all the way in America, leaving behind their Island life and country to live in America.
Eilís Ní Shúilleabháin, describes the hardships of living in the Blaskest in Letters from the Great Blasket. I slept sound until morning, when I opened the door it was not so grand a view I got. I first set my eyes on the sea, but alas no hope either today of a boat crossing. If it was fine and sunny on the land itself here we don’t call it fine until the sea is calm.
The people of the Blaskets hunted and fished for food, and if there was no luck there was no food. Marine resources included seals, porpoises, sea otters, lobster, crab, crayfish, mackerel, whiting, Pollock, herring, rockfish, eel, bass, seaweed, mussels, and shellfish. Crops included oats, rye, potatoes, cabbage, onions, turnips, parsnips, wheat, corn, hay, flax, and carrots. Livestock and domesticated animals included cattle, dairy cows, pigs, sheep, donkeys, chickens, and dogs. The donkey was the work animal for the island people because of its uneven hilly terrain the donkey did well to assist the islanders. A few wheeled carts were used, but islanders usually placed panniers across a donkey’s back to carry turf, furze, or other supplies. Game included rabbits, seals, otters, geese, puffins, razorbills, guillemots, and ducks.
Someone else’s misfortune becomes your lucky day. There were no trees on the islands. Most materials were obtained from driftwood and shipwrecks. Cargo from shipwrecks occasionally provided a variety of goods, such as timber, copper, tin and brass items, casks of oil, crates of tea, wine, clothing, cotton bales, packaged foods and fruits.
If you wanted a place to live then you better build one. Houses were built out if rock and packed with clay made by the man of the house, not men, but man. Early roofs were a rough thatch mix of rush fronds, furze, and other grasses, all held in place with nets and stones. The islands lacked long grasses better suited to refined forms of thatching. These thatched roofs didn’t allow for the flow of air and many people died from Whooping cough. After cloth covered in tar was used for the Naomhóg, canoes, this was used for the roofing of houses. House floors were packed clay, with stones around the hearth. Walls in some later houses were constructed of mortared stone, and chimneys of brick.
Furnishing was little but they made use of what they had. A house typically had a bed, main table, chairs or stools of wood, and cupboards or dressers. For lighting, most relied on the light of the turf fire in evenings, and would leave the door open when possible in daytime. A mirror might be hung by the door to reflect the daylight into the room. A limited number of oil lamps were used, while most relied on peat fires for evening light. Oil from seal livers could be distilled into candle or lamp oil.
The Great Blasket is estimated to have reached a peak population of about 200 people in the early 1900s. The island’s population decreased during following that, as emigration to America or to the mainland drew children away. The few remaining residents were evacuated from the island in 1954. Although life was hard it wasn’t a terrible place no one could bare to live on. Most Irish Catholic citizens on the mainland had lost their lands and were living on small lands with potato their main food for its high calorie content. When the great famine attacked in 1845 people lost their lands and moved to the island for refuge. And reluctantly in 1953 when evacuation began people left the island in no hurry, family by family, saying goodbye to their home.
Standing on the boat, seeing the houses of the Blaskets get smaller and smaller I could only imagine what it felt like for the Islanders to be in this same position. Leaving everything they new for a new home. Their memories all staged on the Blaskets were all they had left. Some traveled the 3 miles to the mainland to settle in Dunquin, Dingle, Kerry. Others wanted to join the rest or their family and try their luck all the way in America, leaving behind their Island life and country to live in America.