Armachiana Volume 18

ARMAGH MISCELLANEA V0L.XVIII Pages Implem ents and Househo ld utensil s

1-4

Local dishes

5

The Potato

6-7

Farming data

8-21

Housing data

22-28

Irish gate pillars

29-30

Schools in the distric t

31-32

Local sayings and proverb s

33-49

Fightin g terms

50

Riddles

51-52

Count~y greetin gs

53 -S"Zt

Country cures

5$'-~

Loc·al ejacula tions

57

Weather lore

57-59

Local names for common ailment s

60

Local nanies for birds, animals and insects

61

Proverb s and sayings relatin g to animals and birds

62-65

Notes on common plants in the area

66-67

Common garden plants and trees of the area

68-69

Local types of apples

.70

Loca1 Va1enti nes and R.llymes

71-73

'

ARMAGH MISCELLANEA VOL.XVIII Pages Death Warnings

74

The Horse

75

The Big Wind

76

The Irish Language

77

Customs, habits, etc.

78

Pre-famine years

79

Creaghts·

80 ..,.

- Cattle

81

Food

82

·Fews dialect-, circa 1935-1939

83-144

- ~~ i ~ ~~~ ~tli

1u.-(- I~,

.-

.

-'

The cont ents of these volumes l a belled Armachiana

are simply notes for t alks to

local and visiting societies in search of

material relating to it s historical background and ancient monuments .

They a re not of any

great i mportance but may provide a gui de to students seeking da t a on the county g enerally or on their own distri ct s i n particular .

TGF Paterson

Armachiana Volume 18 The contents of this digital resource is openly licensed via Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC 4.0 enabling reusers to copy and distribute the material for noncommercial purposes and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.

If any of the material is reproduced, in any form and in any medium, Armagh County Museum should be acknowledged as the source and the reference below cited.

Armachiana Vol1 (Armagh County Museum ARMCM.28.2014.47)

.._

-A. Ark - a chest for holdi ng meal.

B. Bakeb oard. Local ly made. · . Bask ets, Potat o, Calf, Turf.

Besoms, Heath er.

Barro ws, Box and Turf. Local ly made.

Beeh ives, Straw and modern.

Bello ws, Fan and Hand.

Bings . Potat o clamp s.

Bowls , Wooden.

Bread , Gridd le, Pan and Oven.

Bulle-c Mould s.

Butte r Print s. · Beetl es, Potat o also calle d Mash ers.

c. Cams.

•

Cand lestic ks, Pe~e r, Plate , Brass , Iron, Rush light and Weavers.

Cars. Side- cars.

Carts , Farm, Sprin g-car ts. .Chair s, With Rope and Straw Seats .

Chest s, Meal. .

Churn s, Vario us types - some hand, some horse -driv en Staff .

Clock s, Grand father and "Wag at the Walls " Cradl es 1 Wood; many local ly made. .

Cow- chain s. kitch ens. in types Crane s, Vario us a small Creel s, No longe r in actua l use but. saw one in small us vario for all barn utiliz ed as a holdict. imple ments . Few donkeys in distr Creep ie-sto ol. A small three -legg ed 11 stool . "A crowl on a cree:py stoo& looks not-hing •

D. Dress ers, Kitch en. Commonly calle d the shelf . hangi ng dress ers also.

Dibb lers.

Draft s, Cart trace s made of chain s.

A few

--

Implements, Hgusehould Utens11s, etc.

(cont'd) •

. F.

Fields.

Forks. Saw some old smith➔made implements also some Meat forks rather like modern toasting forks.

G.

Gates, Field, Garden and House. Some local smith work of about a century ago. Few wooden gates.

Gate Pillars, Very plentiful. Mostly round.

Griddles.

Grinding stones, Circular.

Guns, Flint locks and modern.

Gigs, High-wheeled~

H.

Hatchets.

Harrows.

Hooks, Reaping.

Horn, Powder Flasks, no1asses 0 , Drenching horns, etc.

Horse charms.

Hems, Iron or wooden slips on horse's collars.

I. Irons, Smoothing, Go~fering.

Iron-rests or stands.

K. Keys, Many of the older kmys are ringed.

Kettles, Iron.

Knife-boxes, Wooden. Locally made.

L. Lantems, ·c and:le, Oil. Ladles, Old metal.

Ladles, Wooden. Old. Lap Cocks.

Implements, Househould utensils, etc.

(cont'd).

M. Mantraps, Only saw one; interlocking teeth.

Meat Forks, Iron.

Mells Wood.

N. Noggin, Wood.

Only saw one imperfect example.

P. Pans, Frying, Preserving. ~ ~

Ploughs, Many types. Some old kinds lying aroWld deserted farm houses. Saw no wooden examples.

Ploughs, Toner's story about ploughing with tow ropes.

Pokers, Iron, Smith made.

Pot Hooks, Iron.

Pot Sticks, Wood.

Pike, A large stack of hay.

Pottery. Figures of shepherds, dogs, cows, King William, Wesley, etc.

Powder horns.

Pins, Rolling.

Only heard of one recently broken up in Tullybrone.

Quilts, Patchwork.

Q. Quilting Frame.

R. Rolling pins; Locally made • . Rope Twisters.

Rollers, Wood and Metal. Horsedrawn.

Rippling Irons. For taking seed off flax.

Rushlights. Haughey's description of making them.

s. Salt Boxes. Locally made.

VOL.13.

Samplers, Many varieties.

Sand-glasses.

Scarecrows - beginning to disappear.

Scythes. Scythe blades, shafts, etc. Old types sometimes survive on roof ledges in barns.

Settles, Box seat and bed types. Both becoming rare.

Side-cars.

Sieves. For straining the church milk.

Implements, Househould utensils , etc~

(cont'd).

s. Sieves, Corn.

Single trees. Partsof plough tackle.

Sharpenin g stones.

Skeps, Straw beehives .

Skillets , Iron.

Slim-cak e, Potato bread.

Slipes, Wood with iron runners.

Sned, The scythe handle.

Snuff-bo xes. Mostly horn.

Spades, Farming and turf.

Spancels , Ropes and chains.

Sowans.

Spinning wheels. Quite out of use.

Stools, Wood; three and four legs.

Stook - a number of sheaves.

Story about Tally sticks.

T. Tally sticks.

Tea Caddies, Woodanci tin.

Tea pots, Pottery and tin.

Thatching tools.

Thistle Pullers, Wood, Wood handles and iron grips.

Threshing machines , Horse driven, Disappea ring.

Toasters , Iron.)

Toasting Forks.) Smith maqe. ) Tongs Iron.

Trivets, Iron. ) Tubs, Local.

Turnip cutters.

W.Watches, Fob and modern.

Weeders, See thistle-p ullers.

Winnowing Fans. Disappea ring.

Wool carders. Did not see one but was told of them at Tullybron e.

Wad of straw. A small h~ndful used to close a hole.

Cookery,

Local Dishes;.

.

Oatmeal dumpling.

Made of oaten meal and flour and cooked in broth.

Apple-cake.

Make pastry ·of flour and potatoes. Peel . apples and slice them finely. Ehclose between two sheets of pastry and cook on a griddle. A great delicacy in this area because of the scarcity of apples.

Apple-dumplings.

Enclose apples in pastry ball and boil in broth or water.

Sowans.

Made from small seeds of corn and weeds which become separated from the good corn at the mill. Ground separately and when brought home put into crocks and nsouredu. Later boiled into a kind of porridge.

Champ. ·

Finely ma.shed potatoes often flavoured with vegetables like leeks, parsely, etc. . · nThere was an old lady who lived· in a lamp, Who had no room to beetle her champ, She up with her beetle and smashed the lamp, · And then sh$ had room to beetle her champ".

ZJ:te Potato, A hundre d years ago or maybe less potato es were pl.ante d in tillab le portio ns on Black Bantand Armaghbrague kounta 1ns by d1)>bl1ng. The dibble r was as long as a spade or mqbe longe r. It had a sharp pointe d end or about six inches and a cross -bit throug h it to enable it to be driven in by

the toot.

.

. .,

1

Old method or se:ttin g was in lazy beds. !hey were origin ally wider than at presen t. In Corren town.land the d "rigs" are now made 6j- feet wide and the potato es are plante a toot apart.

It 1s now usual to plough first but forme rly this was not done. This method ot -planti ng is also calle~ riggin g.

The distri ct does not seem to have· suffer ed severe ly 1n

the ,.am~ne of 1847, though tradit ion states that the potato es were a poor crop for some years previo us to and after that "bad date. fbe cause of the shorta ge is said to have been seed d decaye of ns wathe r" and the tact that good portio potato es were plante d in the years of scarci ty.

7.

Potatoes in 1838, Planting potatoes in the drill 1 s not muoh practised.

Farmers 'Who are generally partial to the old system o£

husbandry represent that i'requent ploughings are prejudic.1.al to light lands and make them too loose and not tenacious ot the fixed air and moisture which are necessary for the production or luxuriant crops, but it is not so in heavy soils which are mellowed and improved by the influence of" _atmosphere.

Donaldson•s 11 H1story of the Fews" p.38.

Donaldson was, however, or the opinion that the principal cause of potatoes not being found so productive in drills as when set in ridges was due to the drills not receiving as inuch manure as the ridges.

Ibid p.38.

Ridges are manured with dung compost and the whole ploughed down and when harrowed and furrows marked out with

the plough, potatoes are dibbled into the ridges with a spade, the furrows are then shovelled up and sometimes afterwards ploughed or.dug W:1-th spades and .finished in the usual. va7.

Some farmers; however do not put on the manure until atter the potatoes are dibbl.ed which answers eq~lly as wll, but 1n clay or wet landR potatoes are planted 1n the laq bed wa7.

Ibid pp.38-39,

.,

,

ECONOMY, A~riaulture, Farmini,

Drauiht Bullogks,

A pair of perfectly gentle draught

bullocks, rising three years old, and a little trained to the plough and car, to be sold by Luke Teeling at Lisburn, 11th April, 1791.

Belfast News Letter, April 15, 1791.

For use in Co. Armagh, see Coote's Survey of the County (1803) p.177 & ~3,.

A Milch Ass for sale,

Just foaled and of a remarkably

Enquire at Printer.

fine kind.

Belfast Evening Post,

May 2,, 1786.

FARMING, "Farming was not then given the same attention as nowadays.

The wooden plough was greatly in vogue being

light and cheap." was 3/-.

Coote says the cost of making a plough

Grass-seed was not sown, the land being left

to clothe itself naturally after a crop.

It appears that early in the last century bullocks were commonly used for draught, but the custom gradually died out, and C.S. Mangan, Rector of Derrynoose was the

last to use a team of bullocks for ploughing.

Coote

says "the draft was from the shoulder and not from the forehead as in the adjoining county".

ECONOMY, Agriculture, Fa m'.\nii:, Farm carts with wheels were practically unknown.

The slide car "shaped like a common car without wheels, sliding on the back points of its shafts which are fashioned for that purpose and shod with iron" apparently met all requirements.

But in those days everyttung that

possibly could be was placed in sacks across a horse's back and corn, turf, etc. were carried in this way.

The machinery in corn mills was very imperfect, and after the first grinding the "shilling" was taken to a hill on a windy day and 11 cleanedn being brought back to the mill for re-grinding.

It was from this custom that Shilling

Hill not far from Keady got its name.

"Keadyi 100 years ago".

H.J. Dobbin, Pub. Armagh 1922.

See Irish Statutes under Agriculture and sub-headings for much interesting material.

ro '

'

:ECONOMY,

Al?riculture.

Fa;nnj n~ terms, Lap-cock.

A small bundle of grass so rolled and set up as to resist somewhat the effects of wet weather.

Thraw hook )

A hooked instrument for twisting hay and straw ropes.

Back-rope.

Band supporting ploughing traces.

Bing.

A heap of potatoes, turnips or other vegetables covered with earth to protect contents from frosts and weather.

The Group.

The drain behind cows in a byre.

The han' stay.

Flail handle.

Drafts.

Cart traces made of chains.

Fanns.

A winnowing machine used for

Head-rig )

. Strips of land at top and bottom ot field left unploughed.

Beastlings.

First three milkings after calving.

Mealark.

Chest for holding meal.

Caliagh.

An old withered potato.

Skep.

A straw beehive.

Shay-cook.

A 0 shake cock".

Stilts.

Plough handles.

Svingle-tree.

Single tree, part of plough tackle.

Sook.

The coulter of the plough.

)

Twister.

Fut-rig

9 I

grain from the chaff •

)

separating

I •-

I

J

I I.

EQQNOML.

A~riQUlture, Famine Terms, Sllpe.

A box-shaped cart without wheels used for various purposes on soft lands where wheeled vehicles might sink or cut up the soil.

Sned.

Scythe handle.

Strickle.

A stick covered with emery used for sharping the scythe.

Spancelled.

Fore feet tied so as to prevent straying or breaking of fences.

Langle.

Rope with a slip knot at each end, the loops being placed on the fore and hind legs of the animal.

Lazy bed.

A broad ridge of potatoes.

Hoodens.

The sheaves placed on tops of stocks to carry off the rain.

Hems.

The iron or wooden slips on a horse's collar.

Elder.

Cow' s udder.

Elsin.

An awl.

Ridge & Fur.

Ridge and Furrow.

Back-rope.

That part of the harness that rests on the horse's back and supports the plough chains.

Back board.

Moveable board at back of cart.

Boxing.

The four boards standing upright round the floor of a farm cart.

Cribs.

The boards above the boxing boards.

Britcben.

The part of the harness that prevents a cart or car from rubbing the hind quarters of a horse when going down hills.

Double-tree.

A wooden bar to which horses are yoked in ploughs, harrows, etc.

,,..

ECONOMY, A~riculture, Fai,nin~ Terms, The fur.

The coul ter.

Dibbler.

The furrow.

? The plough blade also called the -sock.

Barra.

Barrow.

Bing.

A heap - usually applied to potato clamps.

Strick.

A handful of flax.

"Hintin".

The opening up of drills across the headrigs.

Blankin* in potatoes.

The trundle.

The wheel of the barrow.

A good braird.

A fine

Scroggy land.

Covered with bushes.

A Qua.

Firm tufts of earth floating on the surface of bogs are so called.

crop of young oats.

For implements or husbandrx in Co, Armagh in 1803 see Qoote 1 s survey of Arma~h. 177, 186, 190, 212. Cost ot erection of cottages 2;1; prices of timber 279; in 1803, 212.

manufacture of cloth 2,2-2;;;

lazy beds 191-192;

scythe in use

' ~coNOMY, Aer1au1ture, P1aud}ing,

P1°U£h1Pi nth tqw rapes, I mind the people roun' here ploughing with tow ropes and ropes made of straw.

I mind a man.

Sugains they wur called.

He bed a sister called "Kitt7 Nag".

They bed a farm atween them an' quarrelled, an' I saw her cut the ropes of the horses one day with a soythe hook.

In them days the oul' people hed little money so

they'd give their daughters a fiel' or two.

It ws a

bad plan for there wus nothin 1 for nobody in the end.

Terence Toner.

Farm;Lng.

(cont 1 d).

Francis Skelton of Ballinteggart, co·.Armagh -

I

t

Richard Skelton of Bottle Hill, Co. Armagh,= and afterwards of Derriaghy, Co.Antrim.

The Rev. Philip Skelton, the celebrated divine. ·

The family of an industrious farmer, having finished their summer's work in the fields, got in their harvest, and put their winter grain into the ground: fall to some kind of industry within doors, at which in some time they become handy and i~ grows into a kind of trade. The women, especially, employ themselves in knitting 1 spinning and the like, by the profits of which whole families are maintained.

It was thus the linen trade crept into the North of Ireland.

The inhabitants who had small farms which did not furnish them with labour through the winter nor with necessaries through the year set their women to spin and their young lads to weave when they could be spared from other work.

Skelton 1 s Works VOL.V. p.461.

Bullocks after ploughing for two or three years will sell for more than their keeping came to. p.429 (cost of labour less than if horses were used).

Men wanting work in winter and as to their hiring in harvest time, tho they are not plowing and reaping, yet they have their corn to thresh out, they may have marl to raise, sand and dung to draw, drains to cut and ditches to make. p.422.

Dit~,es save herding p.422.

Women "go to foot or win turf" Plow tackle p.421. as plough harness).

p.422.

(still so called, never spoken of

•

FARMING, Seed threshed by flail only required 12 stone to the acre. When threshed by the old barn thresher with wooden beaters the quantity remained the . same.

Steam threshing bruises and damages the grain, consequently 2¼ cwts. of seed is now required per acre.

(Cassidy).

Farming in 1741, Farmers in the north sit dovm upon 30 or 40 a"'bres of middling land at 9 or 10 shillings an acre, pay their rent well, make publick roads and perhaps cut and draw their landlord's corn and turf, wear decent and comfortable cloaths, make feasts now and then and give little portions to their children of 5, 10, 15 and 20 pounds each. p.423.

Forty acres of very indifferent ground in the northern end of the kingdom, maintain a family in -plenty and pay the landlord 14, 15 or perhaps 20 pounds yearly in rent. p.431.

f

I have seen in the north of Ireland a sturdy fellow of British descent who wore good cloaths, rode a good horse to church and market, dwelt in a warm stone house, maintained a wife and 4 or 5 children or rather made them help to maintain him, and all out of a little farm of 30 or 40 acres of sorry ground at a very high rent. Nay, I have seen the same person portion his children and settle them each in as good a way as himsilf. But then I ovm, neither he or his family eat the bread of idleness. They lived well and they wrought for it •.•••• Turn your eyes now, Sir, from these useful and worthy creatures upon a poor cabin built of sods, sorely decayed in walls and roof with half-a-dozen wretches within itl who are so far from being able to repair it, that if a sipg e crown were sufficient to keep it from crushing them into the earth, they could not command it. They are cloathed with rags and half-eaten up with vermin, and being too lazy and often too proud to work are nevertheless not ashamed to steal. p.431-432.

on

Skelton's Works, Vol.V. The Necessity · of Tillage.

Farming 1741.

(cont'd).

Expenses for five years in the tillage of 12 acres Irish measure of good and rich ground in the North. ·

First year for a ctop of wh,eat,

,1-

Three plowings and two harrowings at per acre. £9.

If a fourth plowing £3 more.

Seed wheat 12 barrels at 15/- per barrel. £9.

For reaping £3.

In all £24.

Third year for crop of oats.

Plowing and harrowing £4.16s.

Seed oats 27 barrels at 4/8 per barrel £6.6s.

For reaping £2.8s.

In all £13.10s.

Fourth year for d1tto.

£13.1os.

Fifth year for crop of flaa;, Two plowings and harrowings £7.4s.

Flaxseed 12 barrels at £1.8s. per barrel £16.16.

In all £24. Os.

,£75, as.

Produce of above.

Second year 96 barrels of wheat at 15/o per barrel. £72. o. o. · Third year 252 barrels of oats at 4/8 per barrel. £58.16. o.

Fourth year ditto. £58.16. o.

Fifth year flax -sold on foot at £7.10. per acre. £90. o. o. £279.12. o.

Deduct farming expenses, seed, etc.

7~, 4, o, £20. 8. o.

If tythes of the grain be deducted.

18.19, ~. £185. 8.10.

Skelton 1 s Works Vol. V. p.417.

See Sheet IV. for maintenance of a farmer's family.

Farming l741.

(cont 1 d).

The maintenance of a farmer's family consisting of six persons, four of whom are able to work during one year. And first for their food.

To 40 bushels df shelling, each bushel of which will yield 45 pounds in clean meal and equal to 5 pounds in seeds for flummery, which altogether would bake into 60 pounds of bread. This at 3 shillings per bushel amounts to £6. o.o.

To 52 bushels of potatoes at 12 pence per bushel. £2.12.0.

To 6 quarts of buttermilk or skim milk at a penny each day. £1.10.5.

To 1 hundred of skim milk cheese.

8.4.

To 1 hundred of butter and do. of salt. £1. 4.8.

To an ordinary carcase of beef. £1. o.o.

To firing and hearth money. £1.10.0.

To 2 roods of ground, digging, sowing, planting, weeding, and seeds for a garden.

12.0. £14.17.5.

Their cloathing is as follows: To 17 yards of country cloth or frize at 12 pence per yard, which will make suits for two men, to - trimming and making £1.10.0.

To 8 pairs of brogues and four pairs of stockings for two men by the year.

13.0.

To 13 yards of linen at 8 pence per yard for 4 shirts and to making and to 2 hats for the two men in the year.

12.0.

An ordinary gown and petticoat is cheaper than a man's suit and lasts much longer and as farmers' wives seldom wear any shoes or stockings at home and as the cloaths of the children are usually made up of old things, we may allow for the cloathing of women and children the same as the men. £2.15.0.

Total for food and cloathing £20.7.5.

Skelton 1 s Works Vol.V, p.418,419.

\~-

Farming 121+1,

(cont'd).

First year for a crap o! flax.

Plowing.and harrowing one acre 8 shillings and sixpence.

Seed. 6 bushesl at 7 shillings per bushel.

Twenty women for pulling the flax.

For beating out the seed.

For watering and spreading on the grass.

For breaking and bu.ffing.

8.6.

£2. 2.0.

10.0.

6.o.

2.0. £4.13.4.

In all for one acre £8.1.10.

First year for a crop of wheat, For fallowing 12 acres by three plowings and two harrowings.

Seed. 12 barrels at 15/~ per barrel.

For reaping.

£9. o.o. £9.- o.o. £3. o.o.

Third year for potatoes.

The expense at 6d. per perch in the old way for dung, seed and labour would amount to £1.12.0. but I will suppose the potatoes set with the plough as follows.

10.0.

To the -first two plowings of one acre.

1.6.

To the harrowing.

To ten men and two horses for the setting and 6.o. third plowing.

6.o.

To three other plowings.

12.0.

Seed 12 bushels 12/-. £1.10.0.

To dung £1.10.0.

For carrying out dung.

4.o.

In all for one acre £3.9.6.

Skelton Vol.V. p.425.

Tables also given for fourth year crop of barley and fifth year ·crop of oats.

Farm Terms.

Snig - to cut with a hook or scythe.

Fur - the 'furrow.

Coulter - plough blade, also called Sock.

Barra - barrow.

Bing - a heap, usually applied to potato clamps.

Blankin - covering.

Trundle

wheel.

(Blanking in potatoes).

(wheel-barrow trunnel).

Braird - crop, a good braird of corn.

Scroggy - poor; land cove_red wi tb bushes.

Strick - a handful of flax.

Sned - scythe-handle.

Strickle - the sharpening stone.

Slipe. - box-shaped cart without wheels.

Langle - A rope attached to fore and hind legs of a goat or other animal.

Elder - cows udder.

Boxing ·- the four boards standing upright round the floor of a farm cart.

Cribs - the boards above the boxing.

Backboard - movable· board at back of cart.

Backrope - part of the harness that rests on the h9rse•s back and supports the plough chains.

Britchen - part of the harness that prevents cart from rubbing the hindquarters of a horse when going down hill.

Double-tree - wooden bar to which horses are yoked in ploughs and harrows.

:2. :0 Farm Terms,

(cont I d).

Twister - an implement for twisting ropes.

Lap-cock - a small bundle of grass so rolled and set up as to resist somewhat the effects of wet weather.

Group - drain behind cows in a byre.

Head-rig - Strip of land at top of field.

Foot-rig - Strip of land at bottom of field.

Skep - a straw beehive.

Swingle-tree - single tree; part of ploughing tackle.

Calliagh

an old withered potato.

Calliagh - the last handful of growing corn.

Fans - winnowing machines.

Pike - a large stack of hay.

Shay-cock - a small c9ck of hay.

Stook - a number of sheaves.

Hudders - the top sheaves of a stock.

Calf-muzzle - a small basket made of willows and used on calves to keep them from sucking the cows.

Fireboard - mantelpiece.

Couples - timbers supporting a ridge-pole.

Jinny - an old fashioned lamp shaped like a coffee-pot.

Chimney-brace - the canopy-shaped screen that covers the hearth through which the smoke from the fire proceeds to the chimney. .

Scraws - thin grass sods laid under the thatch to receive the points of the scallops.

I

Spurtle - AT-shaped stick used for pushing in material when thatching.

l Door-cheeks - the posts enclosing the door.

21.

Farm Terms,

(cont'd).

Spy-hole - the hole or window in the jamb wall.

Shows - refuse from flax.

Lint-hole - flax hole.

Flax sometimes called lint.

Rippling-iron - an implement used for removing seed from flax.

Mell - an implement for breaking lumps.

Besom - sweeping brush, usually applied to one made from heather but now becoming general for all floor brushes.

.

,

Hoyse s, Examples of mud-wall cottages may yet be seen in the territory of Ballymacone. They were inexpensive to build and when kept in repair wer~ excellent habitations, cool in summer and warm in winter. · / Some of them contain features of interest, open hearths designed for the burning of turf and covered by canopy type chimney-fl~es that extend over the hearth for several feet and provide space for seats of various kinds, rang~ng from perhaps a settle-bed against the inner side of the jamb wall to little three-legged creepy stools for the children.

Cooking in such homes is by the old fashioned methods that have been in use for centuries.

A kitchen-crane . mostly iron, for few wooden examples remain - with a movable arm that lies against the back wall of the hearth give _s support to imp1ements called crooks from which hang whatever cooking utensil is in immediate use - it may be a pot griddle or a pan. If a pot, something is being boiled, though types of that vessel are also used for roasting or baking. If the latter form of cookery is in progress the lid .of the pot will have a covering of lighted turf. Cakes are baked in the ·same way but chiefly in flat pots called ovens. Most of the bread used is, however, baked on the griddle and the people of the district are famed for their 11 apple griddle · cakes 11 • The older kitchen implements and utensils, such as rushlight candlesticks, toasters for hardening oatcakes, etc. are seldom seen and ·very few wooden churns or milk bowls are now in evidence owing to the fact that most of the milk now goes to the creameries.

These older cottages and farm houses were thatched with wheat or oat straw, but that form of roof covering is now fast disappearing. Thatching is, alas, a decaying art.

Straw is, of course, a fai.a:'ly expensive material and requires frequent renewal. It is, however a very warm covering and a well thatched and nicely kept whitewashed cottage is a really attractive dwelling.

Comparative Notes on Housing.

1559-1603.

Removing their dwellings, according to the commodity of pastures for their cows, sleep under the canopy of heaven or in a poor house of clay or in a cabin made of the boughs of trees and covered with turf •••• And in such places they make a fire in the midst of the room and round about it they sleep on the ground without straw or any other thing under them, lying all in a circle about the fire with their feet towards it.

Illustrations of Irish History, p.232, Litton Falkiner quoting Moryson 1 s Description of Ireland.

1559-1603.

Again these lords (Irish) challenging all their tenants goods think scorn to have any .cows or herds of catt.l e of their own ••••• they distribute their lands among their tenants to be tilled only for one, two or three years, and so the people build no houses, but like nomads living in cabins, remove from one place to another with their cows •••• thus the country people living under the lord's absolute power as slaves and howsoever they have plenty of corn, milk and cattle yet having no property in anything. -

Illustrations of Irish History, p.246.

Moryson, Commonwealth of Ireland, refers to Ulster.

For howsoever while they live in woods and in cabins with their cattle they could be content with water and milk, yet when they- came to towns nothing was more frequent than to tie their cows at the _ doors and never part from the taverns till they bad drunk them out in sack and strong water which they call usquebaugh •••• though half naked for want of clothes to cover them.

Ibid p.249-250.

Comparative Notes on Housing.

We live in cleanly houses: they in cabins or smoky cottages. Our chief husbandry is in tillage: they despise the plough.

Ibid p.263.

1620.

The baser cottages are built of underwood called wattle and covered some with thatch and some with green sedge of a round form and without chimneys and to my imagination resemble so many hives of bees about a country farm.

In the end of the harvest the villages seems as big again as in the spring, their corn being brought into their haggards and laid up in round cocks in form of their houses. /

A Discourse on Ireland. Lukef Gernon. Anno 1620. C. Litton Falkiner 1 s Illustratio91 of Irish ~istory p.355.

·r will not lead you to the baser cabins where you

shall have no drink but bonnyclabber milk that is soured to the condition of buttermilk nor no meat but Mullagham. (mallabane), a kind of choke-daw cheese and blue butter, and no bread at your first coming in, but if you stay half-an-hour you shall have a cake of meal unboulted and mingled with butter baken on an iron called a griddle, like a pudding cake.

Ibid p.360.

Circa 1668. They eat here (in Cm. Down) as well as in some parts of Scotland cakes called kets which they bake on iron plates over a fire: being sufficiently baked on one side, they turn them on the other until they become as dry as a biscuit. They are made without leaven and are sometimes so ill-baked that a person who is not used to them iannot eat them; nevertheless throughout all the inns on the roads no other sort of bread is eaten: however they do not spare

Comparative Notes on Housing. to cover them with butter and thick cheese, here very cheap, costing only a penny per pound.

The common people live chiefly on this.

Ibid p.422. De Rocheford's Description of Ireland after the Restoration.

1810.

As most of the farm houses in the North of Ireland are similar in construction to the one I was now in I shall describe it exactly. It was two stories high, whitewashed and thatched; on entering the hall I found. it likewise the kitchen, where a large fire was blazing; on the right hand was the parlour, off which there was a small bedroom; the apartments above corresponded in size to those, but were mere lumber rooms; they resembled the worst half of Noah's ark; they were a receptacle for all unclean things; the apartments on the left I reserve for bedtime •••• the house seemed the abode of plenty, but slovenly and dirty ••• when I was shown into the room in which I was to sleep I could not help being struck with its dreary and forlorn appearance •••• the wind whistled through broken panes •••• dimly illuminated by the farthing candle placed on a meal chest by the way of a table.

Description of a farm-house near Omagh, Co. Tyrone. The writer mentions that when he drove up to the door he incautiously stepped out whereupon he found he was halfway up his leg in a large puddle of water that stagnated at the very threshold, his nankeen pantaloons and white stockings being little improved by the immersion •••• on looking down he found there was a board, on which, as on a bridge, he entered the house.

Sketches in Dublin and the North of Ireland in 1810 by John Gamble p.214-221. qee also p.246 for description of a cabin Dunghill in front of door. .

Cabin consisted of a kitchen and a room off it.

Good turf fire burning on hearth.

Noggins, porringers and a few plates on dresser.

I

Comparative Notes on Housing.

Stools in abundance but only one chair, and that unsafe.

Not clean nor yet squalidly dirty.

Shaw Mason's Parochial Survey of Ireland (Dublin 1816),

Vof. II.

Par1§h of Ballymoyer, Co. Arma~h. - p.82.

"Their cottages are in general neatly thatched and many of them white-washed and roofed with foreign timber, as bog-oak which formerly supplied them is nearly exhausted. Their feather beds, curtains, quilts, sheets and blankets, are mostly manufactured in their own houses.

The inside of their dwellings is, in general, clean and provided with everything essential to the comfort of a plain farmer and indicating a state of society not entirely debarred from luxuries; the clock has universally taken the place of the hourglass. In some of their houses cupboards filled with cups, saucers, etc. arranged with rustic taste are common11 •

Parish of Glenavy, Camlin and Tullyrush, Co, Antrim. - p.246.

The cottier 1 s houses are in general built of lime and mortar. They are roofed with fir ash, or bog timber; and thatched with straw except a few that are slated. The size is from 17 to 24 feet long and from 13 to 15 feet wide and about 6 feet high in the side walls. They are divided into two apartments, a kitchen and a bedroom. The furniture differs according to the industry of the family; for two cottiers may have the same wages and the furniture of one be superior to the other. They have commonly two beds (mostly chaff) with bed-clothes. Some have one and some three, five or six stools and chairs; one or two looms and spinning wheels; one or two .metal pots; a small table or two; one or two boxes or chests; a small quantity of earthen or tin ware; one or two wooden bowls or dishes; a small number of wooden vessels, such as a tub, a piggin, a can, and two or three noggins; a few knives and horn spoons".

0

-✓ Comparative Notes on Housing.

uThe House of Downshire" - McCall.

1881.

p.76.

Oak tables and chairs in bedrooms.

Deal stools and forms in kitchens.

Inside the wide chimney brace on each side of the peat fire a cushioned seat.

Cooking utensils consisting of cast iron pots, griddles, frying pans and occasionally a Dutch oven.

Pewter plates, wooden bowls, noggins and sppons of same material. Kitchen dresser and limited supply of delph • .

The writer mentions Dubordieu•s Antrim and Down and seems to be dealing with the early 19th century.

The house was one entire ·long room without any partition.

In the middle of it was the fire-place with a large wood fire.

It had no chimney but a vent-hole for the smoke in the ridge 1 newly put up for a summer or booley habitation.

Dunton quo~ed 168-.

by MacLysaght p.344. ·I have often had occasion to mention cabins and huts.

They build them by putting two forked sticks of such length as they intend the height of the building and at such distance as they design its length; if they design it longer they place three or four such forks into the ground and on them lay other long sticks which are the ridge timber. Then they raise the wall which they make of clay and straw tempered with water and yhis they call mud; which wall is raised to a sufficient height, which perhaps is four feet. Then they lay other small sticks with one edge on the ridge pole and the other on the wall.

These they wattle with small hazels and then cover them with coarse straw or grass, without any chimney so that when the fire is lighted the smoke will come through the thatch so that you would think the cabin were on fire.

Another sort of their cabins is made by laying one end of

-faComparative Notes on Housing.

a stick upon the bank of a ditch and the other upon a little bit of mud wall and then when it is wattled they cover it with heath, straw or scraws of earth. Behind lies the garden, a piece of ground sometimes of half-an-acre, or an acre, and in this is the turf-stack, their corn, perhaps two or three hundred sheaves of corn and as much ueas.

The rest of their ground is full of their dearly beloved potatoes and a few cabbages which the solitary calf of the family that is pent here from its dam: never suffers to come to perfection. p.368 quoting Dunton.

For Dunton see Annalecta Hibernica, Vol.III. See Dunton' s 11 Dublin Scuffle". · See Otway sketches in Erris and Tyrawley p.32, written in 1841, as to the strewing of floors with rushes.

The cots are generally built on the side of a hill ••••• The cottage is usually raised three feet from the eaves to the ground on the one side and the other hath a rock for a wall to save charges ••••• the hearth is placed in the middle of the house and their fuel i ·s of earth and cow-dung dried in the sun. The smoke goes through no particular place but breaks through between the rods and wattles of which they make their doors, sides and roof of house ••• to which they have two doors, one always shut on that side where the wind blows • . McLysaght p.110 quoting Richard Head . ."The Western Wonder, 167'+•· .

In the better sort of cabins there is commonly one flock bed, seldom more, feathers being too costly; this serves the man and his wife the rest all lie on straw, some with one sheet and blankei, others only their clothes and blanket to cover them. Their cabins S3ldom have any floor but the earth or rarely so much as a loft, some have windows, others none.

They say it is of late years chimneys are used, yet the house is never free from smoke. McLysaght p.111 quoting John Stevens

-7Comparative Notes on Housing.

Journal - ed. by R. Murray Oxford 1912. than Head. \,-(_ t-- lb~ t> •

•

Fifteen years later

>

The cows, sheep and hens brought into the house at night for safety.

For sketches of cottages see Thomas Philips Military Survey 1685 in National Library, Dublin.

GATE PILLA,RS,

Irish Gate e111ars, Many years ago in South Armagh - I believe in the district of Mullabawn - I was told by an old man that such pillars represented the master and mistress, and on my pointing out the fact that some farms seemed to have had in that case several masters and mistresses he said it was not unusual for a new owner to build in some field a new set of pillars.

Visitors to Ireland have some times mentioned these pillars - see I.

Memorandums made in Ireland in 1852 by John

Forbes, M.D., F.R.S., Vol.II, p.8.

Dr. Forbes found

them universal throughout the island and describes "the existence in every common field gate of two huge round pillars with conical tops something in the fashion

ot round towers in miniature •••• very generally it happened that the fields at whose entrance these huge gate posts stood, were small and insignificant and not at all tenable in their fence capacity".

II. "The Miseries and Beauties of Ireland" by Jonathan Binns, 1837, Vol.I, p.92-93.

"Not only has every mean

cottage or farmhouse two huge gate-pillars with conical

r

GATE PILLARS, tops, built of stone and mortar, whitewashed and accordingly very glaring on a bright day, but the field-gates are usually honoured in the same -manner.

Whether the prevailing adoption of these ungainly structures arises from the ~ikeness they bear to ancient round towers or whether their use is occasioned by the scarcity of entire stones or wood I could not ascertain".

Deserted house at Treay - showing unusually tall and heavy gate-pillars surmounted by water worn rocks from nearby stream.

Note mounting block at gable of

barn.

April 43.

In various parts of the county three pillars appear giving access to two fields. evidently more modern.

This arrangement is

It economizes in so far as

it saves the erection of a fourth pillar.

Schools of the district in 1826.

Grenmore:

Mary Hanlon, Roman Catholic. Salary £2.4s. School a cabin £6. Pupils: 20 R.c., 4 other denominations.

Grenm,o;ce:

Denis McGrath. Roman Catholic. Salary £2. cabin £4. Pupils: 8 Established Church, 1 Presbyterian, 25 Roman Catholics.

Cladymore:

John Neill, Dissenting Presbyterian. Salary £12 to £15. Slated house rented at £2. Pupils 42 Presbyterians and 3 Roman Catholics.

Qladymore:

Peter Valilee, Roman Catholic. Salary about £10.

Cabin cost £5.

6 Established Church, 29 other denominations, 27 Roman Catholics.

Cladymore:

John Martin, Seceder. Salary about £27. School built by congregation. 7 Established Church.

27 other denominations, 3 Roman Catholics.

Cladybe~:

John McCormick, Roman Catholic. Salary £11. A thatched cabin. 3 Presbyterian, 37 Roman Catholics.

Lisnadill:

Joseph Devlin, Established Church. Salary £22, including £6 as Parish Clerk. Good School - worth £90 to £100.

36 Established Church, 10 Presbyter~ans, 4 Roman Catholics.

Tullyna~in:

John Rodgers and Mary, his wife • . Roman Catholics.

Salary about £20.

A cabin. 1 Presbyterian, 20 other denominations, 30 Roman Catholics.

Second Report, Irish Educational Inquiry 1826, under Co. Armagh.

The returns were compiled in 1824.

A

( "The locale is a small mud house, built if the term may be used, out of bog with wooden rafters to support the root 1 which is of good thatch: cost him as he says £1.0. It is s~rengthened by four upright beams of timber on the sides: notnthstanding which there are cracks and chaSills of bad omen in the wallsr two holes are left open in the roof to help the escape ot the smoke: the room measures ~7 feet by 13; without nndow or chimney~ The edilice was reared by Maddock himself and his right to it 1s during his 11.fe only: there is no grate, no table a .few deal planks .for the children to sit .Ypon; no school requisites. '.I.'he chil.dren, none of whom seem to be above ten or eleven years, bring each a tu.rt from home, and a coal is got at a cabin in the neighbouring bog to light this pi.enic fire, round which as the day was cold I round the whoJ.e contents or the room huddled on the clay floor, the infant savages scarcely discernible 1ri the thickness of smoke and flame: the smoke regorging in a stream through the door; much more or fire than daylight in the interior: all the children barefooted: many hal.f-naked, tlieir eyes running with rheum: son1e had scraps or books or single leaves. Xhey pay one penny per quarter which with his premium rrom. the London Hibernian Society forms the whole remuneration or the master•.

See Notes on a Tour in Ul.ster pp.97-99 1n Notes on Three Tours in Ireland 1n 182lt- and 1826-by James

.

_,."'

P.VIII 10 Armagh Libraey.

Further racts ·as to above school.

Pe.DJ17 per quarter remitted if parent plead poverty.

Master lodged with neighbouring peasants in turn eight or ten families being willing to r~ceive him. He rormerly taught in

a worse house mada of sods. In winter children unable to attend properly because of weather and want of clothes.

School knoWn as K:1 llerover near Lisnaskea.

...

Proverbs.

Local Sayings relating to men, women and children.

Descriptive.

women, She's the sort that if axed till a wedding would wait for the christening.

She has a good many nicks in her horn.

She well knows the length of his shoe.

She's no chicken for all her cheeping.

She'd blind ye with talking.

She 1 s had at fasting but the divil for prayers.

She won•t tear in the plucking.

A woman• s not like a bo_ok, ye can• t shut her up when ye want.

She 1 s not the sort till sell her hen on a rainy day.

A whistlin' maid and a crowing hen would raise the divil out of his den.

Her looks would sour milk. (')

Happy the bridae the sun shines upon.

She knows much who knows how to hold her tongue.

There's matrimony and ceremony, but there•s damn all like ready money.

SHe 1 d shake hands with a hedge-hog. (An effusive insincere . person).

.

Vi

5He goes from house to house looking his bi~.

(begging).

Going down the hill. (Becoming frail - approaching death).

Full of herself.

(Talkative, conceited~

.

I➔ C.UW, A £o-W, ~ Ct. ~ ~ ,- ~ ~ ~~ ,

Proverbs.

(Descriptive).

Men, If a man doesn•t marry he'll rue it sore, But if he marries he 1 11 rue it more.

A bachelor has a loose leg.

~

~ Abad reaper blames the scy.the. y1~f~ ) An old man is but a bed of bones.

What•s a gentleman but his pleasure.

Many a man tied a knot with his tongue that his teeth will never loosen.

'- A bad mower blames the scythe.

What's the use of a farm to a man when his wife's a widow?

Honest men marry young, wise men not at all.

A well langled man - (a man dominated by his wife).

Babies, Keep their heads cool and their bottoms dry.

Proverbs.

Local Sayings.

God has often a great share in a little house.

God never closes one door but He opens another.

Where God sends mouths he sends meat.

Them that slights the meado~ will buy the hay.

The stormy day is not the day to be mending the thatch.

It 1 s a poor house where the hen outcrows the cock.

Butter goes mad twice in the year.

Never put the fox to hoard the ducks.

Them that hides knows where to find. [:rever ~arry money but marry where money is.7 It 1 s a long lane that has no turning.

Cows die whilst grass is growing.

Two of a trade never agree.

Fancy buys the ribbon. {!irds of a feather flock together.]

Far away hills are green.

You don 1 t miss the wee well till it's dry.

A yapping

dog can set a townland barking.

Blood is thicker than water.

A

slice from a cut loaf is never missed.

A hungry eye

sees far.

Butter to butter is no kitchen.

What•s got across the devil's back is often lost under ' his belly.

Proverbs

Local sayings,

(Cont• d).

After the gathering comes the scat~ering.

Borrowed horses have hard hooves.

Mills don't grind with water that is past.

Eaten bread is soon forgotten.

Where ~here 1 s muck, there's luck.

A little pot is soon hot.

Nothing more ever comes out of a pot than goes into it.

If you sleep with a dog you may rise with a flea.

[Short pleasure - long lament

.J

Better be alone than in bad company.

What would you expect _from a cat but a kitten.

A closed mouth catches no flies.

Sense is little burden to the head.

A blind man is a poor judge of colour.

Empty vessels make the most noise.

Soft words butter no parsnips.

A miss is as

good as a mile.

Dont let your tongue . cut your throat.

Happy the dead that the skies weep over.

It•s not aisy for an oul' horse till drop his tricks.

He lives too near the wood to be frightened by owls.

He who goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing .

• Always sit on the sunny side of the hill.

Bever despise the cobblers because of his black thumbs.

·•..

Proverbs

Local .Sayings.

(Cont'd) .

You need a long spoon to sup with the devil.

Hunger is a good sauce.

It•s a poor hen that cannot scratch for itself.

Friday's moon come when it will, will come too soon.

Scattered seeds grow to harvest.

Cocked hay scares the cuckoo away.

Dead bees make no honey.

An inch is a lot in a man's nose.

Put something away for a sore foot.

Have God and have all.

A torn coat is better than none.

If a bed could tell all it knows it would put many a one to shame.

Better a bare foot than no foot at all.

Children are poor men's riches.

Honey is sweet but beware of the bee.

He loses nothing who keeps God for a friend.

Better to die a beggar than live one.

When danger's past God 1 s forgotten .

You can get nothing from a sack but what is in it.

He who seeketh trouble will find it.

Wash your hands often, your feet seldom but your head never.

When bees are old they yield no honey.

It•s hard to get breeches

·- --

-- -- -

of·a .bare backside. f, .

I

Proverbs.

Marriage.

Marry in May and rue the day.

Happy is the wooing that•s not long a-doing.

Monday for wealth, Tuesday for health, Wednesday the bes~ day of all, Thursday for losses, Friday for crosses, And Saturday no day at all.

Lucky is the bride the sun shines upon.

Groom must not see bride in wedding dress until he sees her in chUI!ch.

Marry in haste, repent at le~sure.

To change the name and not the letter Is to change for worse and not for better.

A child in the loom.

Sorry for your trouble.

Lucky to throw old shoes at wedding.

Rice formerly thrown at weddings and if the couple were unpopular sometimes flour.

Bride and groom formerly held for ransom on leaving church after marriage.

If wedding ring breaks, ill-luck follows.

Marriage.

Marry your daughters early lest they marry themselves.

Marriage and hangings are matters of luck.

There's more to marriage than four bare legs in a bed.

He who marries for love has good nights but sorry days.

Wedlock is a padlock.

Proverbs.

Ill-luck.

Friday unlucky.

Nothing important should be commenced on that day.

Unlucky to see new moon through glass.

Crowing hens unlucky.

Unlucky to burn human hair.

Never give gifts on New Year's Day. Don 1 t christen children after dead brothers or sisters.

NeVer burn the wood or the fre-fee.

Saturday moon unlucky.

If left ear burns someone speaking ill about you.

Cock crowing a~ter midnight a sign of a death.

Crowing hen unlucky - must be killed.

Unlucky to rob swallow•s nest.

Unlucky to kill the cuck~oo - it brings summer.

-

The CUck190 comes with the green wind and goes with the _g r~y.

Unlucq to harm the robin - ·1t was at the Crucifixion.

A\ Proverbs

-

Ill-luck.

(cont'd).

Unlucky to put down a setting of eggs of even number.

Unlucky to disturb crickets.

Single magpies unlucky.

One for sorrow, two for mirth, Three for a wedding, four for a birth.

Some people bow to single magpies, other spit over their left shoulders. It is believed 0 -chat no storm ever tumbles over the tree in which they nest".

Ill luck follows the killing of the wagtail.

Never . , straddle a creepin~ baby in case you ttcrowln it.

Unlucky to go to bed without having drinking water in the house.

Fmpty cradles must not be rocked.

A child's first sleep should be in a borrowed cradle.

Unlucky to eat blackberries after Hallow E•en.

Unlucky to move on a Saturday - a Saturday flit is a short sit.

Unlucky to quarrel with a person born on Whit Sunday. If ·a fight should ensue, his blow likely to prove fatal.

Unlucky for a wedding party to meet a funeral.

Spilling of salt unlucky.

Proverbs

(cont 1 d).

Ill-luck.

Never put your boots on the table.

Don•t take cash for setting eggs - have something in exchange.

Unlucky to drown a cat.

Unlucky to begin the building of a house on Friday or any other work of importance.

Unlucky to sit in a party of thirteen and eat any food.

Never share washing water.

Unlucky, you lose the friend.

Ill-luck on the way if swallows desert the house.

Peacocks' feathers unlucky.

Unlucky to cut or pare nails on Sundays.

He who on Sunday pares a corn, it were better he was never born.

Unlucky to break or lose a wedding ring.

Unlucky to have the right hand itch.

Sign of money being lost.

Unlucky to kill a spider.

Unlucky to have a fire burn on one side only. about to leave the house.

Someone is

Unlucky to bring a spade into the kitchen.

Pins should'be handed head first or stuck in wood.

Proverbs

-

Ill-luck •

(Cont 1 d).

. Unlucky to pass under a ladder.

Picture falling from the wall considered unlucky.

A broom bought in May will sweep the family away.

Unlucky for Christmas Day to fall on Saturday.

Unlucky to have a rat cross your path.

Unlucky to talk much of a child's name before the christening.

Unlucky if the baby does not cry at baptism - devil not dislodged.

Unlucky to "dung out" stables or byres in the afternoon.

Never close a well - unlucky.

Never strike a blow with ragweed or hawthorn~ UnlCIAiky to spy a frmeral through a window or ·door.

Ill-luck to have the salt spilled.

Unlucky not_ to sweep the floor before churning.

Unlucky to put on one sock and one boot.

~~Vv.-t c; nuvn~ ~ ~·~r ~~ G_~.

Proverbs.

Good Luck.

To meet a piebald horse.

To kindle the first fire in a new house with a live turf from a long inhabited home.

If the right ear burns you are being spoken well of somewhere.

Swallow a lucky bird. Houses where s~llows build their nests are neve! struck by lightning.

Robin a lucky bird about the house.

Crickets are lucky - never disturb them.

When building corn the sheaves should be laid with the sun for luck.

Lucky to find a horse-shoe.

Seventh child of a seventh child lucky and able to effect certain cures.

Lucky to meet a horse with one white leg.

Lucky to meet a sow and a litter of pigs.

Lucky to meet a snail with horns erect.

Spider on one•s clothes considered lucky. it foretells a new suit).

(Some people say

.

Proverbs

-

Good Luck.

(~ont•d).

Must not be killed.

Daddy-long-legs a lucky insect.

Ladybird lucky.

Lucky the bridge the sun shines upon.

Happy the corpse the rain falls on.

White specks on finger nails said to denote good luck coming to that person.

See a pin and pick it up, All the day you'll have good luck.

See a pin and let it lie, You 1 11 want it bye and bye.

Monday's new moon is a lucky moon.

Lucky to have the left hand itch.

Good fortune coming.

It is considered sonsy to have a goat with the cattle.

Lucky to be born with a caul.

(Cannot meet a violent death).

Lucky for Christmas Day to fall on Sunday.

Lucky to have a churn-staff made from a rowan tree.

The house-leek a lucky plant.

Lucky to find a lost horse-shoe, especially· it be a hind leg . · shoe.

Local Sayings

Descriptive.

General.

He•s past your thumb.

He 1 d buy you in one field and sell you in another-.

Eyes like burnt holes in a blanket.

She wants a square of being round.

All gab and guts like a young crow.

All to one side like the handle of a jug.

He knows his book.

It fits ye like a hair in a well.

You•re not sugar or salt till be melting.

Tears running down their cheeks like beetles up a hill.

Crooked as a dog's hind legs.

Two feet above a duck.

You won 1 t catch him with chaff.

It•s as true as truth•s been this long time.

You might as well look for blood in a turnip.

Born at the bladeing of the kail.

A mouth like a torn pocket.

He wasn't behind the door when feet were given out.

There's a hole in his thatch.

He'd talk the teeth out of a saw.

If he only had an apple he'd give ye the peelin 1 s.

Like a daddy-long-legs on the skite • .,

Childer and chickens must always be picking.

He hears not at that

ear.

Local Sayings

-

Descriptive .

General, You won•t catch old birds with straws.

A closed mouth misses the flies.

Growing down like a cow's tail.

It might cut butter if it was hot.

There's more red noses than midges the day.

He put the saddle on the right horse.

Brown boots and no breakfast.

His head is not one that saves his legs.

Old fools are the worst fools.

And that was the taking up of the weatherl Between you and me and the post.

A bad excuse is better than none at all.

When the patient is rich there are doctors in plenty.

Don•t be there till you•re back

-

(make haste).

Don I t let the grass grow under your feet. - (hasten)·.

Ivery man•s a boy till he's married.

Houl• yer gab.

For good.

(Stop talking).

(For ever).

The divil be good to ye.

That•s only a cat's lick.

It ye want till overtake him you'll rise early.

He goes a bit of the way with everybody.

He has lost the walk.

(Unable to get about).

Local Sayings

-

Descriptive.

General.

Born on the wrong side of the blanket.

That -takes .the cake.

(Issue of unmarried parents).

(Wins or finishes - said to owe its origin to a dance for which a cake was . the prize. Reason for the dance as well as period of year forgotten).

He can handle his feet bravely.

(He dances well).

The road was not wide enough for his walking.

There 1 s no luck in a dry bargain.

His rearing was no better than his schooling.

(Drunk man).

Descriptive names for veople of weak intellect, Foolish.

A wee bit foolish.

Quare.

A

Cracked.

Poor soul he's slightly cracked.

Touched.

He's a wee bit touched.

Daft.

Daft in the head.

wee bit quare or quare in the head.

Not wise.

Soft in the head.

Not all there.

A slate off.

Fighting Terms.

As cross as two sticks.

Crooked as a dog's hind legs.

Give him a sother on the lug.

Let him cool in the skin he warmed in.

Pile your duds me boy.

If ye turn your tongue on me I'll brain ye.

He wants his snout wiped.

I 1 11 warm the wax in his lugs.

You're a big man but a wee coat will fit ye.

I'll make ye scratch where you've no itch.

I'll make ye smell brimstone for that.

If it 1 s a leathering that ye want I'm your man.

I 1 ll make ye laugh on the other side of yer face.

I cud lick the seed, breed an• generation of ye.

A1 11 lave yer mouth like a torn pocket.

I 1 ll wipe yer neb an• it won•t be with a hanky.

Riddles.

What's full and holds more.

(A pot of potatoes).

Long legs, crooked thighs and no eyes.

(A pair of tongs).

Forty sheep went through the gap, and forty more followed , that Four, six, eight, ten, nine and three how many is that.

(Twelve.)

As I went through yon guttery gap, I met my Uncle Davy, I laid him down and sucked his blood and left his body aisy.

(A cherry).

Londonderry, Cork and Kerry, Spell that without a K. (That).

What has wings and cannot fly.

(A cart).

Put one o, put two 0 1 s, put three 0 1 s, Put four 0 1 s, put five o•s put six o•s, Put seven 0 1 s, put eight O1s.

(Potatoes).

Sisters and brothers had I none, Yet that little boy's father was my father's son.

(Son of the speaker).

What relation is a child to its father . that is not its father's son.

(A daughter).

The longer it lives the shorter it grows.

J

(A candle).

Riddles.

(Cont'd).

Water will wash it, but the sun won't dry it.

(Butter).

I went through yon guttery gap, I met a wee man in a gay red cap, A stick in his stern, and a stone in his belly, Riddle me that and I'll give ye a penny.

(A haw).

As

What sleeps with its finger in its eye.

What is full and holds more.

(The crook).

(A pot of potatoes).

..

Country Greetings.

Morra boy.

Soft day.

How 1 s all your care.

Blustery weather.

How's yerself?

It 1 s a thin morning.

Muggy day.

Nippy day.

The wind's very pushing.

Nice open day the day.

Right day, boys.

Slabbery day, men.

Smushy day.

Sore day this.

It's a spitty morning.

A starving wind the day.

Teemy day.

C

Mid<:iling Day. The winds in a bad art the day.

We will have a blash before night.

Blowey day.

It•s a wee thought warmer the day.

Brave morning.

Clabbery day.

Country Greetings.

(cont I d) _.

Desperate day.

Hardy morning. · Great day.

Fine day ..

Ill looking morning.

Lamentable weather.

Mortal fine morning.

Right open weather.

Settled day.

A taste o~ rain the day.

It's blowing a wee thing the day. ·They're plucking geese in Scotland the day.

Broken weather.

1

1. Greetings taken down during visits to the locality in the years 1937 and 1938. "-

..-----.

Cures.

Toothache.

Procure a nail from blacksmith in God's name and bury it under a hawthorn tree.

Procure a Hairy Mary and bury it.

Stye.

Can be cured by a person whose mother's maiden name is the same as that borne by her husband.

She made the cure by nsticking the stye with a thorn from a gooseberry bush".

Chin-cough.

Find a man and his wife who had the one surname before marriage. Procure some bread from them with their blessing.

Dog-bites.

No cure. Dog must be destroyed otherwise the person bitten may become affected if the dog goes mad.

Warts.

' Rub with freshly killed meat. Then bury the meat and the war_ts will pass.

Warts can also be given away. Touch the wart with paper or wood, then wrap the object up and leave somewhere for somebody to lift. .

Fluid from dandelion.

Wash in smith's water (water used to cool irons).

Snail rubbed on wart and then stuck on a bush.

Rub with a rag and leave it to be picked up.

Nettle stings •. Rub with 11 dockan 11 leaves.

Charms.

Pass from father to daughter :or mother to son.

Sprains.

An eel-skin bracelet prevents sprains.

Pains (Rheumatism)

A raw potato carried in the pocket.

Some

people have charms for them.

To stop blood. A cobweb will stop blood flowing from a cut finger.

Whooping cough. Go to a ·house where husband and wife have the same surname and ask for bread, butter and sugar. You must always ask for three things.

Mrs. Cassidy, Tanderagee.

11 Put on horse's uwinkers and be driven into pig-

sty.

Ou,tes,

(cont'd).

Burns.

Find a mankeeper and lick its belly three times in the name of the Father, Son 1 and Holy Ghost. After that, the person doing so will be able to cure a burn by licking it.

Cassidy, Tanderagee.

Cough.

Boiled Flaxseed.

Boiled docke·n seeds.

Bog Beans -boiled make an excellent tonic.

Dog's tongue cures burns and cleans wounds.

Flaxseed • . Boiled cures coughs, and Fed to horses gives glossy coats.

For whooping cough~ pass the sufferer under a donkey.

Ejaculation§,

Boys a boys.

Boys a dear.

The divil be good to ye.

The divil take ye.

Och! lave him till' God. ·Man apove, ye don't say so!

God is where he was.

Don 1 t worry.

The morra 1 s long, what's yer hurry. ' You're a sight for sore eyes.

-~ :

.'

.J

•

Weather Lore and Sayings.

As the days lengthen the cold strengthens .

When March comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb.

A green Christmas makes a fat churchyard.

A dry May and a dripping June makes the farmer's heart beat a merry tune.

When the wind's from the south the rain is near.

All the months of the year curse a fair February.

Cold April - good harvest.· April showers bring forth May flowers.

April winds hurt neither hay or corn.

Change not a clout till May is out.

Mist in May, heat in June, harvest soon.

A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay.

Rain before seven, fine before eleven.

The robin under a bush means rain; when he is on top all is well.

The warm side of the stone turns up on Patrick's Day. The south wind brings wet weather The north wind wet and cold to-gether, The west wind always brings us rain, The east wind blows i t back again.

If the cat scratches the legs of chairs or tables it is a sign of rain.

If Candlemas Day be bright and clear there'll be two~winter s , , in that year.

"The wet saint" - St. Swithin.

Sott rustling in the trees betokens rain.

Weatber LQre anq Sanngs,

(cont'd).

Cows huddle to-gether before a storm.

When the wind's in the west the cuckoo is in her nest.

When the dog eats grass it is a sign of rain.

When the wind comes . from the east it's bad for man and beast.

When the robin ventures indoors hard weather may be expected.

As Friday's weather so Sunday's weather.

Rain on Sunday, rain all week.

If bees work around the hive the rain is near.

-

If cat sneezes it is a sign of ·rain.

March of many weathers.

If the oak is well-acorned it is a sign of frosty winter.

If it rains on St. Swithin's day it rains for forty days.

If the frog wears a golden coat the weather can be relied upon to remain fine, But if he puts on his black coat rain is on the way.

A sloe year is a woe year.

A haw year is a braw year.

Ring round moon a sign of bad weather. If the ring is close the storm is near - if distant farther away.

The wind from the south-west foretells wet weather.

Candlemas storms and ~am.mas floods must come.

March-April borrowing days. The March winds had almost killed the old cow so March borrowed three days from April wherein to finish the job.

Weather Lore and R£:Yings,

(cont'd).

If the six days before Christmas and the six days after are carefully noted they will show how the months of the year will behave.

March weather is better than May- soap.

March dust and May sun makes corn white and maidens dun.

March borrows three days from April, Three days ahd they are ill, April borrows from March again, Three days of wind and rain.

A wet March brings a sad harvest.

January brings the snow, Makes our faces and fingers glow, February brings the rain, Thaws the frozen loughs again, March brings breezes loud and shrill And scatters daisies over the hill.

March will search, April will try, May will tell Whether you'll live or die.

Hens retire to roosts before heavy rain comes and come out again when rain is passing.

If only a light shower may not bother to shelter.

Soot falling down chimney a sign of rain.

Hard weather - frosty, cold.

Broken - showery.

A dry May and a dripping June,

Frosts in March, frosts in May,

A cold April will bless the year at harvest time,

When the wind's in the south it's in the rain's mouth.

Rain signs:

If a dog eats grass.

If soot falls.

Midges swarming. usugh" in the trees.

Cat washes face.

Donkey roars.

Crickets chirping.

Swallows fly low. ·

Local names for common ailments.

Measles - Nettle rash.

Whooping Coµgh - Chin cough.

Croup - The choking.

Thrush - Sore mouth.

Diarrhoea - The looseness.

Stomach-ache - Sore belly.

Erysipelas

Rose. Wild fire.

Epilepsy - Falling Sickness.

Consumption - Decline •.

Asthma - The smothering.

Heart-trouble - Torment of the. heart.

Goitre - The big throat.

Local names for birds, animals and insects, Mankeeper - a small lizard or newt.

Stirk - a young cow.

Whitrit - weasel.

Stripper - cow not in calf but giving milk.

Moiley - cow without horns.

Springer - cow near her calving.

Grue - greyhound.

Bull-stirk - young bull.

Screw mouse - Shrew Mouse.

Linty - linnet.

Gold Pink - Gold Finch.

Corbie - Grey-backed crow.

Pee-weet - Lapwing.

Jinny wran - common wren.

Clagg - the horse-fly.

Pismire - the ant.

Devil's Needle - the Dragon Fly. Coffin-cutter - the Devil's Coachman (Locally a story is told of this insect having shown the way that Christ had gone through .the harvest fields).

Earywig - the earwig.

Heather-bleat - snipe.

Felt - Redwing.

Blue-bonnet - Blue Titmouse.

Hern Cran - Herron.

Yeltie - Yellow Hammer •

.

Scaldie - a newly hatched bird.

__ _____ ____,_

Proverbs or Sa.Jinis relating to Animals and Birds.

There's not room to swing a oat 1n it.

When the cat's away the mice oan plq.

1'he cat may look at the king.

He let the cat out ot the bag.

A oat has nine lives.

A cat• s m1lk gives no cream.

The Dog.

Let sleeping dogs lie.

You can•t teach old dogs new tricks.

Aey stick is good enough to beat a dog with.

A hair ot the dog that bit you.

fhe Horse.

Bever swop horses orossing a river.

You may bring the horse to the water but you can•t make h1m. drink.

Don't put the cart before the horse. /

You can't make a silk purse from a sow• s lug.

Birds.

Birds ot a feather flock together.

K1JJ1ng two birds with one stone.

A bird 1n the hand 1s worth two in the bush.

1'he early bird catches the worm.

one swallow does not make a summer.

Pine feathers make tine birds.

lt the cuckoo sings on a leaf'less thorn, ye\ may sell your . cows and·buJ' hay.

Ducks.

Be took to it like a duck to water.

It nn ott him like water orr a duck's back.

wo,. Pftrnes to~ ~1r4e, a,n2ma1a and 1nseoia, Manke'iper - a small lizard or newt.

Btirk - a y9ung oow.

Wh1tr1t - weasel. stripper - cow not 1n calf but g1v1ng ·m1lk.

1

,;

Holley - CQW without horns.

Springer - cow near her calving.

Grue_- greyhound.

Bull-stirk - young bull.

Screw mouse - Shrew Mouse.

Linty - linnet.

Gold Pink - OoJ.d Finch.

Corbie - Grey-backed crow.

Pee-weet - Lapwing.

Jinrly wran -

common wren.

Clagg - the horse-fly.

Pismire - the ant.

Devil's Needle - the Dragon Fly. Co.tfin-outt er - the Devil. 1 s Coachman . (Locall.7 a story is told of this insect having shown the way that Christ had gone through the harvest fields).

Earywig - the earwig.

Heather-ble at - snipe.

Pelt - Redwing.

Blue-bonnet - Blue titmouse.

Bern Cran - Herron.

Yelt1e - Yellow Barm:D9r.

Soald1e - a nawly hatched bird.

_

,

!he lazy cuckoo

she lays but two,

An• she brings !hem out with a deal to do, 1'he 31nty wran she lays nineteen

An• brings them out both neat an1 clean.

Another version says fhe wren has ten and brings them up like gentl•en•

- . . - -.. -

.

-

. :.

"

-..,,

Notes on common plants in the area.

Bed Straw.

Bilberry.

See Bilberry Sundays.

Bog Asphodel.

Has an 11 unlucky" reputation but was formerly used as a dye.

Bracken.

Had some religious significance now forgotten, and said to have been disliked by the wee people.

Buttercup.

Cattle said to dislike it. Believed by some farmers to produce butter of good colour.

Chicken-weed.

Used as a poultice to reduce swellings.

Clover.

The three leaves said to represent the Trinity, the four leaved the Cross.

The lat~er very lucky but must be discovered accidentally. It may not be searched for.

Coltsf'oot.

Dried and smoked a cure for bronchial aff actions.

Corn Marigold.

The Gowan - see also under Gillygowan.

Daisy.

First seen should be pushed back into the ground. Petals pulled in the game or charm uthis year, next year, sometime, never".

Dandelion.

Jirigid's Flower.

Used as the basis or a blood-purifier and makes an excellent wine.

Plants.

(Cont 1 d).

Nettle.

Said to have been blessed by Patrick.

Used in soup and 0 champ 11 • If stllllg by one get dockan leaf and recite uNettle in, dockan out!.

Dockan in, nettle out• •

. Night Shade.

Death Weed.

•

Orchids.

Primrose.

Unlucky to take flowers by root unless for replanting.

Purple Loosestrife.

Ragged Robin.

Ragweed.

Fairy Horses.

Scabious.

Snowdew.

Flytrap.

Thistle.

Violet.

Whin.

Also called "furze". Used at Eastea by children to dye their Easter Eggs.

Formerly a food for horses. Whin mortars still exist in the area but, of course, are no longer in use.

Plan.ta to be found 1n gardens or the area.

Anti.JTb.1ma.

Snapdragon.

Christmas Rose.

Daf'todils.

DatfydowndS J J y.

Honest,'.

Bouse Leek.

One house onl.7•

LaY81'1d,ut.

LtJao.

La.71.ock.

LUy ~ the Vallq.

London Pride.

st. Patrick's Posy.

Lovaul1ea-bl.ee41J:ac.

Hlcbaelaas Dais,.

Jl1Dt. Peoll1'•

Bo•.

Bo••U'J•

Peoll1' Rose.

(WJ:17 ?)

l-, q.

Garden Plants.

(Cont'd).

Snowdrop.

To find ombefore Januaey "the height of good luck" •

SouthernllOOd.

Southerwood, Citherwood, etc.

Sunf'1ower.

Thyme.

-

frees of the area.

Ash.

Seven-leaf' ash a charm or luck-bringer.

Fruit not to be eaten af'ter Luok:y to have a sprig ~.l,mas_. attach itself' to you.

Blackberry.

Crab-apple.

EJ.der tree.

Bore Tree. Unl.ucky to bring blossoms indoors. Makes excellent wine. Was once thought to be a charm against witches and fairies. "Sure ivecy oul' house was .fair smothered 1n Bore-trees at one time".

Hawthorn.

Christ's crown of thorns made f'rom such a bush. Haws good to eat. To bring blossom into the house is to court death. Commonly called the White Thorn.

1'he Gentl.e Bush.

"A haw year is a braw year".

"When the cuok♦oo comes to the bare

thorn,

Sell your cow and blq' some corn".

Woodbine.

BoJJ,7.

Cross said to have been ma.de of bolq

and since then to have had red berries.

I£ used as a decoration in the house it must be taken down before Old Christmas

Bve.

Zmftse

(Cont'd).

Rowan Tree. Branches are still placed in byres by a f'ew of' the ol.der peopl.a.

Wild Cherry.

Tfild RaapbenJ. Wild Rose.

flle Blackthorn. st. Patrick's statt aaid to have been made rran this.

8p1n4lewood..

On the lowr lands onl7 and not very

prevalent though plentiful around Armagh City and 1n areas in the county that were

&ngllsh Plantati~ settler.aenta.

Willow~

Willow free. ~ free. Apparentl.1' decayed or dead branches sometimes were placed in the ground as a charm. It they

grew the charm worked, otherwise not.

Unable to discover whether this was a l.ove charm or a method of' getting rid~ . some inconvenience, such as ringworm.

-ro.

Looal Jfamea ror trees and plants.

-

Bore hee

elder tree. wil.d rose.

-

Sally tree

-

Mountain Ash

Sagan

-

*

l'GqloVe

-.

wood sorrel.

ragwed.

iris.

.-

Glll7gowan Hqn.owr

rowan tree.

-

CUoktoo-801'rel Ben-weed

wJ..llow.

-

-

-

Yellow corn da197.

marsh marigold. tairy tingers or thSmblea.

kloeJ tXP@I 0 t &m21@1, Dlls 1s not a fruit district but on some or the older tarms~re were a few fruit trees, mostly old varieties of appl.es. nie following kinds still ·survive in the district.

Widow• s Whelps

Pox1 s Whelpa Strawberry Cheeks Canes

Halt-Plum•

Red strokes Russett•

r -

:

Barn Hills

Black Armet White Armet Honey Combs Sugar SWeets Dockeneys Lily Fingers.

'

11 Valentines, Rhymes, etc.

I wish I were a broom stick,

And you a bunch or heather, And some old man would come along And tie us both to-gether.

Love is an awful thing, a torment and a pleasure, Having it you know no painJ wanting it no pleasure.

Would we shun 1 t 1f ire could? Faith I often doubt 1 t, Sure I'd rather bear the pain than live one day without it.

Some bo7s love their sisters, Bu.t I so good have grown,

~ t I love other girls sisters,

Far better than my own.

When you are married and at the tub, Think ot me at every rub, !hough the water be ever so hot, Lather avay and forget me not.

1'.hou shalt not covet they neighooul" 1 s wite, His ox thou shalt not slaughter, But thank the Lord, it's not a sin fo co.vet tm.,y neighbour's daughter.

Long ma7 7011 liv~ 1 happy ma7 you be 1 Ble~sed with litue ch1ldren1 one, 'CWC?J three, One- to wash the dishes, one 'Co sweep me floor, And one to rock the cradle if' ye want any more.

LoYe J'OU1' neighbour, hug bis daughter.

'

Valentines, R?cymes, etc.

(cont'd).

Bere•s to you and yours, not forgetting us and ours, And if ever you and yours come across us and ours, Us ·and ours will do as much for you and yours, As ever J'OU and yours d1d tor us and ours.

When I was young I had no sense, I bought a wee i"iddl.e for eighteen-pence, But all the tune that I could play

Was over the hills and far away.

Boxt7 on the griddle, boxty on the pan, If ye don't get boxty, ye 1 ll niver be a man.

I•U be yours, 1£ you'll be mine

I•m your loving Valentine.

Cut your nails on Monday, cut your nail.s tor heal~, CUt your nails on Tuesday, cut your nails f'or weaim, cut J'OUr nails on Wednesde.y, cut your nails for news

Cut 7our nails on Thursday, cut your nail.s for new ~ a ,

Cut your nails on Friday, cut your nails for sorrow, Cut your nai.ls on Saturday1 _!3ee your sweetheart ·to-morrow, Cut your nails on Sunday, 1ll luck you sure will borrow.

Sanday-•s child is ruu or grace, Monday's child is f~r of face, Tuesday's child 1s solemn and sad, Wednesday' s child is merry and glad, Thursday's cb~ld is very thr1v1.ng,

Pr1da7•s child is tree in giving But Saturday• s child works hard tor a living.·

~alentines 1 Rbzmes, etc.

(cont'd).

Sneeze on Monday, sneeze tor danger, hesday, kiss a stranger Wednesday, sneeze tor a letter, Thursday, sneeze f'or something better, Friday, sneeze for sorrow,

Saturday, see your sweetheart to-morrow, Sunday, your true love will be f'aithful.

Matthe~, Hark, Luke and John, Bless uie bed that I lie on, There are f'our corners to my be41 Round them are four angels spreae1, If I die before I wake I pray the Lord my so~ to take.

As I go to rq bed I go to my grave, Aaldng of Jesus my soul to save, Jesus be with me 1n my f'inal last hour Lord J'esus have mercy on me.

Death Warnings •.

Dog crying means a death.

Bees swarming and leaving a house a sign of a death.

Crickets leave the house before a death.

A magpie coming to the door foreteels bad news.

A person who i~ ill and keeps picking at the bed-clothes

will not recover.

A bird tapping at a window at night brings· news of a death.

Missed rigs in potatoes or corn considered a bad omen, Death usually takes a second member of the family.

A corpse that does not stiffen is a sure sign of another

death in the household within a year •

. A grave that sinks rapidly foretells the same.

Rooks leaving a homestead foretells death.

- If a picture falls from a . wall without the string breaking it foretells a death in the family.

'"

The Horse.

"The roads of this kingdom are generally tolerably good for riding but by no means equal to the English for a carriage. Turnpikes are established on all the principal roads in the kingdom; and at the inns though they are far from making the appearance of those in England, yet the English traveller will universally, almost, meet with civil usage 7 good provisions in general and for himself clean decen~ lodgings.

But an English horse could he speak as well as Balaam's · ass, would curse the country for most of these articles.

Their oats indeed are, for the most part, tolerably good; but their hay and litter are the worst I have ever met with, for excepting two or three counties in the east of Leinster and one or two in Ulster almost every handful of straw the earth produces, goes upon their houses or cabins. Their litter is generally the bottom of their haystacks, and the spoiled hay from the racks which the greater part of it often is before it comes there from their injudicious method of harvesting it, the provision of the rack is seldom much better than what goes under their feet, and thither goes one half of it at least.

I absolutely did not get above one bed of clean dry straw for my horse in the three eastern provinces; and that was at a farmer's who kept an Inn at Lurgan near Lough Neagh, in the county of Armagh, one of the prettiest market towns in the north, and the most like some of our spacious thoroughfare towns on the high roads near the capital of any that I met with in all the country. His men happening to be threshing of barley and throwing the straw about plentifully just by the stable door I was determined that once in the kingdom my horse should have a warm and clean bed. I don't exaggerate, I assure you, nor depart in the least from the truth, when I tell you tha~ excepting at my landlord·'s, if I mistake not, the Crown and Wheat-Sheaf at Lurgan, I did not once get anything like a good bed of straw for my horse in the kingdomn.

Hibernia Curiosa p.47-48. J.B. "Notes on a tour in Printed Dublin MDCCLXIX. Ireland in 1764.

The author p.102 states that 11 a good beef steak broiled on Irish turf and served with a dish of roasted potatoes is excellent food for an English stomach 11 •

The Big Wind Qf 1639, At the outset of the year there was a series of wet weather accompanied by high winds - that on the night of the 5th January became more violent and increased to a perfect tempest or hurricane which stripped or forced in the roofs of many houses, prostrated or damaged the walls of several others and threw down a great number of chimneys. Many stockyards suffered damage by the stacks of grain and hay being tossed and scattered about and blown to a considerable A portion of it was distance into glens and hollow-places. however arrested in its progress by houses, ditches and the like •••••• and to add to the calamity a fall of snow succeeded before the grain could be collected so that the damage was immense.

Donaldson's "History of the Fews 11 , pp.27-28.

A similar storm in January 1802.

Ibid. p.22.

In 1809 a great storm on the night of January 5th.

Ibid p.22.

Great Storm in January 1811.

Ibid p.22.

11.

The lrisn Language in uDDer Fews, In 1861 in U~per Fews Barom.

1,131 Males. ) Total 2,417 to which number add· 28 Males and 1,286 Females.) 59 Females who spoke Irish only. One person alive, then aged 100, a native speaker.

1871.

I)

Irish Speakers in Upper Fews BarQJJ.Y,

1,054 Males. ) 1,120 Females.)

f

-

Total 2,174.

188]..

--

2,174 speakers in Upper Fews.

Qu1t2ms, Habits, ate, "Hay Insolgsn.

Wisps ot fresh hay worn in the shoes instead ot insoles.

Said to be an ancient custom and that fresh sweet hay is good ~or the feet besides being ttonducive to warm feet.

tradition 1n the territory of Ba.llymaoone says that wbins were :first planted because of their convenience as bushes whereon to dry the family washing - but we find ref'erenoes 1n rentals 1n other counties that suggest a di.rferent story. For instance in a Survey of Mount Hamilton, Co. Antrim, made 1n 1739, it is suggested that "whins sown OP planted in ditches would form excellent shelter" •

...

Tb,o em-fu1uo Xears.

In 1800 the season was so dry that no crops came to maturit7 which occasioned a great dearth - oatmeal arriving at the price of £3 by the hundred, and potatoes J.12,t. per stone.

Lives of many or the poor preserved by Indian Corn M~l and rye and lilheat flour brought from America and by the volwitary contributions of the landlords and more wealthy inhabitants.

Donaldson's "History or the Fews", p.22.

In 1806 there was a great failure of the potato which brought about a dearth in 1807.

Ibid p.23.

Dearth

or flax seed in 1809.

Ibid p.23.

Summer and harvest of 181~ extremely wet and much grain stood out until 17th November.

Ibid p.2;.

Year 181? uncommonly cold and wet, very late harvest.

Grain not reo.ped. in many places until after Christmas.

Ibid p.2S.

Seasons between 1817 and l.831 more uniform excepting

182S' wich was a 79ar of great drought resulting into stunted grain which ·had to be pulled up by the roots.

Ibid pp.2,--26.

1831 a very dry season.

Partial failure or the potato crop 1n 1832 by seea not

ngetating.

1837 a wt season.

1838 a vet and cold season.

Wet weather 1n 1839 during ploughing period but attar ••dttiae dry wather commenced whioh hardened up the lands and retai-Md vegetation. 1'h1s was followed bJ more wet wather feaulting in much loaa ot crops.

Ibid pp.21•28.

at'••••

Creaghts.

Notes from uThe Ulster Creaghts 11 , J.P. Prendergast, l.R.S.A.I., Vol.III, p.1+21.

I. For their greater security, the 0 1 Nial 1 s with much shrewdness and policy instead of a.t.temptin·g to strengthen their country forbade any to be built. - And, carrying out this plan of rendering their country untenable to an invader for want of cover and supplies, discouraged agriculture and kept their people to a wandering pastoral life.

II. Con 0 1 Nial (temp. Henry VIII) cursed his posterity who should learn the English language, sow wheat or build Speed's Chronicles, Chapt. 24, p.837. houses.

III.

At the Plantation one of the difficulties was how to fix

and render a~enable to law and order the pastoral population which from early ages had been accustomed to wander without fixed habitations after their herds of cattle. Their dwellings are described as made of wattles and boughs of trees covered with long turves or sods of grass which they cou.li easily remove and put up as they wandered from _place to place in search of pasture. Fynes Moryson p.164, and Spenser's "State of Ireland", p.35. Most of Ulster seems to have lived this life. Moryson speaks of cabbins wattled and covered with turf (p.71+). In war .they drove their herds before them.

IV. This freedom had charms - so they still subsisted at the period of the Commonwealth. In 1650 near Augh Lieut. Gen. 0 1 Neal and his wife lived in a creaght - 11 there having built a house which they. do completely in an hour or two, -they stay ·till they want grass and then dislodge to another station. Ludlow's 11 Memoirs 11 , Vol.I, p.365.

V. Creaght, a term used to describe the little huts and cabins in which the lower classes lived.

VI. Some call them creaghts from the little huts they live in, . which they build so conveniently with hurdles and long the towards summer in them remove can they turf., that moun-cains and brine them down to the valleys in ·winter.

Story's 11Wars 11 1698, p.16. (Near Newry).

~,.

Cattle,

1559-1603, Plenty of grass makes the Irish have infinite multitudes of cattle, and in the heat of the last rebellion the very vagabond rebels had great multitudes of cows which they still drove with them withersoever themselves were driven and fought for them as for their altars and families.

Illustrations of Irish History, p.222. C. Litton Falkiner, quoting Fynes Moryson's Description of Ireland.

Ulster, the fifth part of Ireland, is a large province, woody, fenny, in some parts fertile, in other parts barren, but in all parts green and pleasant to behold and exceedingly stored with cattle.

Illustrations of Irish History, p.219.

Moryson.

The fields are not only most apt to feed cattle, but yield also great increase of corn. I will freely say that I observed the winter's cold to be far more mild than it is in England, so as the Irish pastures are more green and so likewise the gardens all winter time T•••• but the heat of the sun hath not such power to ripen corF and fruits so as their harvest is much later than in England.

Illustrations of Irish History, p.221.

Moryson • .

Food.

The inhabitants of Ulster ••••• accustomed to suffering and hardened to the cold of this northern climate, have few wants and fewer wishes, not caring for bread and living on trefoil and butter; their drink is milk and as a great treat whiskey, nevertheless they have shoes, some few utensils and a woollen man~le which covers them, but are more careful of their swords and muskets than of their own bodies. They rarely touch money and as rarely quarrel about it. Report to the Pope.

The Embassy in Ireland of Monsignor G.B. Rinuccinii Archbishop of Ferno, in the years 1645-1649, Dublin 1813, p.495.

~ttr < - s < ~

. .,, j l ~ ,'(; ~

r ~•

~I

~ •· f l

·.e~ r -

0,,

~ ~; p Vl

\4

~~

d\

.

~

.

Fe\x:s Dialect.

T'".~.~ l - : , ~ ~ -

A.

A - I. 11 A wudn' t be bothered."

A-back. "Light-a-back. 11

11

Heavy-a-back."

Abodes - foretells.

11 The dog cried last night - it abodes ill. 11 A carry-on.

- frolic or play .

Afeared - afraid.

Afore - before.

Age - to grow old.

Agee - open.

11

Leave the door agee •

11

Anear - to come near.

Ail - prevent, annoy.

"What would ail me?" \vhat ails ye at i t? 11

11

"Airing herself by the fire. 11 11 Out taking the air. 11

Air - various uses.

Aised - eased.

nHe aised the bag on my back."

Allow - agree.

11

1' 11 allow that it may be so.

11

Allowance - permission. "I ~an•t give _ye any such . allowance. 11 All ·sorts - heavy, scold, etc.

Raining all sorts. 11 "She gave him all sorts~'

All there - sensible, cute.

11

11

He 1 s a11· there. 11

Anenst - opposite or against.

Antic - funny.

''He I s that antic ye I d split yer sides at him. 11

Ar - a scar.

Arn - errand.

Art - direction.

"What art is he from?"

"The wind's in the wrong art for dry weather1 1

fews Dialect.

(cont'd).

Astray - crazed, pained, mentally deficient.

11 Astray with the pangs of it. 11 11 11 Astray in me inside.

11 • 11 She 1 s astray in the head.

At it - related, quarrelling. ,

Pt~

~

heard them at it. 11 11 They were at it with their fists.

nI

11

D.i-t~.....

C\• ---<f•n<\_,·~•~ ~ ~ ~ { 0 1 , ~ '

Atween - between.

Author - informant.

11

He is my author."

Away in the mind - Insane.

Away - lustily, loudly, etc.

Awanting - crazy, silly; Ax - ask.

!! To sing awa~1 To cry away.

II

CSb. Fews Dialect, B.

Babbed - close.

11

(cont'd).

Babbed head - close cropped.

I niver babbed an eye the life-long night".

Babblement - silly talk.

ur,. will back ye

Back - assist.

Back

influence, opinion.

Back - descriptive, unfair.

Back-set - relapse.

11

11 •

The back of the country's behind him 11 • 11

Never off his back 11 •

"He got a back-set 11 •

Back-spang - To take unfair advantage in words or dealings.

Off and on.

Back and forward.

"I'm there back and forrards all the time".

Back talk - cheeky replies.

Bad - sick, indisposed.

Bambouzle - to outwit.

Bang - nois~blow.

11

It went off w"ith a bang".

11

A bang on the lug 11 •

Banter - encourage or tease. 11 He needs a bit of bantering.

11 He bantered him till he did it 11 • Bar - to except or prevent.

11

I bar that".

Barge - scolding, quarrelsome.

Barra - barrow.

Bash - to strike.

Bastard - base.

Bat - blow.

11

11

A treacherous little bastard of a chap 11 •

Hit him a bat on he's neb 11 •

Batts - a horse disease.

Bat - stroke.

11

0n the bat of . the hour 11 •

Fews Dialect, (\

Be to be - had to be.

"--

~

(cont I d).

Be south, be north, etc. south of, north of, etc.

Beck - to nod.

Boon - number.

"He had the quare boon of workers at it 11 •

Become - suit.

11

Bedrid

It becomes ye well".

bedridden.

Badivelment - full of bedivelment or fun.

Beeld - fester.

Bees - was or is.

11

He bees working ·well 11 •

Beetle head - heavy headed, dull, sleepy, unable to learn.

Be-hope - hope.

"She has behopes of clicking him~. i_.

Belt - beat, flog, v.rhip.

Bend - effort.

11

"He gave him a whale of a belting".

He makes no bend for himself at all" • .

Bemean - to lower one's dignity. "I'd not bemean myself by having words with the likes of her".

Best man - groom's man.

Bit - descriptive. Various uses.

11

A bad bit of a boyu.

11

A good bit of fun".

11

Bit - time.

Bing

heap.

A tidy wee bit of a place".

"When it come to the bit he wouldn't go 11 • "Bing of potatoes.

"Binged-up plate 11 •

Birl - to swing or spin.

Also used for a wake "the birl-house 11 •

Black-foot - the man who accompanies the prospective bridegroom, helps with the courtship, and arranges the match.

Efill.uialect I

(cont'd).

Black looks - angry or annoyed expression.

Blade

descriptive; various uses.

11 11

Blade of grass".

A saucy blade".

Bla-fum - nonsense.

Blare - yell.

Blash

splash.

Blast

descriptive; various uses.

Heavy rain.

uBlashed with mud 11 • A blast of the pipe".

"He's a bit of a blast".

11

Blazon - praise.

Blind - to fill or close.

11 Blind the gap with a bit of a bush".

Also used to denote a mask hung on the cow's horns to keep her from breaking out of pasture.

Blirt - cry, complain, untrust\•: orthy. nshe 1 s always blirting".

"She will blirt the whole story 11 • Blether - foolish talker.

Blood

fighting spirit.

Blow - schld.

11

Don•t raise his blood or you'll rue i. t" •

"I gave him a good blovling up".

Blustery - stormy. Usually applied to temper, weather, or · agressive persons of either sex.

Blutter - to talk in a silly fashion.

Boast - hollow.

Boke - to vomit.

Bone-dry - quite dry.

"The wee cow's bone dry".

Bonefire - bonfire.

Bothered - silly. "He's a bit bothered in-his mind 11 •

Bottom - unreliable.

"There's no bottom to the .plan or story11 •

Bottom_ a low~lying field or meadow.

•

~Fews DialectL

(cont'd).

Boy - various uses. May refer to an unmarried man, a servant man, or the devil himself if prefixed by old!

Brag - Various uses.

11

11

She was the brag of the ball".

He 1 s a bit of a brag".

Braird.

Brakefast - breakfast.

Bran new - very new.

Brash - illness - may also mean help.

Brashins - milk raised by the churn-staff in churning.

Brave - large, fine.

11 A brave lump. 11

ttA brave day 11 •

Bravery - finery. "She was out in all her bravery 11 •

nr ve yet to meet the horse I cudn 1 t breast".

Breast - mount.

1

Brenthy - broad.

Brew - the edge of a drain or bank of a stream.

Brissle - to toast.

nshe does nothing but brissle her11 shins at the fire •

Broken weather - showery wee.ther.

Broken - wet.

Brung - brought.

Buff - to joke, naked.

"He's only buffing. 11 nswimming in his bare buff".

Budge - to move.

"What is your budgetn.

Budget - news.

Buggle - to shy.

Bum - boast.

11

The horse · buggled at itu.

"He's a great wee bum".

Bunty - small.

Busk - dress.

as

11

All busked up and nowhere to gou •

2d

'to.

Few~ Picalect.._

Butt - various uses.

(cont'd) .

11

He jumped from a butt 11 • A quare wee butt of a fella. 11 Butter-f ingered - careless .

11

Butter-m outhed - treachero us.

Bye-boy - illegitiu ate son.

Bye-name - nickname .

11

A butter-mo uthed deceiver ".

Fews Dialect. · C.

(cont 1 d).

Caddie - boy, but may also mean a good for nothing sort of person as it is sometimes a term of contempt.

Cadge - carry.

uye have had a long cadge of it 11 •

Cadger - little, but sometimes also applied to a pedlar.

Gailey - gossip .

Call - arrange, need, demand. uHe has called an auction".

"You had no call to hit himu.

"Kelly's coal gets the best call 11 • Also used in the sense of right "What call have ye to be tramping through my fields after your dogs.n 6alled - abused.

nHe called me out of name.

Came on - became.

uWhat came on ye?".

Cant - auction.

Canty - jaunty.

11

A canty boy thatu.

Cap - a cover. To cap - to stop. Cap - a smn of money collected at a game or for some deserving object.

Care - family ..

Carried away - foolish, vain.

Carry on - misbehave, to make a noise. llThey are case-equal when it comes to telling the truth 11 •

Case-equal - similar.

Case-hardened - accustomed. "She's case-hardened till his ways nowu.

Cast - reject, reproach.

"I cast that awayu.

I cast up her shortcomings to her face".

11

Casting-match - a quarrel.

Cawsey - the paved stones around the kitchen door.

Cementing - beating.

0

He got a well deserved cementing".

Fews Dialect,

(cont'd).

Chanceable - changeable.

Chander - scold.

Change ones feet - to put on dry socks or boots.

Chap - blow. uHe ·wants a chap on the nose".

Charge - load, caution.

ucharge the gun". ¥I charged him to b _ civilu.

Chattered - bruised (shattered) .

Chats - small.

"Chats of potatoes 11 • "Wee chats like you should.be abed".

Chay-cow - a term used to call or soothe cows.

Check - chide.

Cheek - impertinenc e.

Cheep - talk, speak. "If he cheeps about it he will rue it.

Chew upon it - think it over.

Childer - children.

Chitter - mutter. "She's chittering to herself like a looney".

Chivy - chase.

Clabber - mud.

Clamp - to make a noise.

Clamp - a covered heap.

Clart - a slovenly or dirty woman.

Clarty - wet, dirty.

Clash - repeat.

Clash-bag - an indiscreet talker.

Fews Dialect,

(cont ' d) .

Clash- bag - story- teller . "She ' s the greatest clash- bag f or .miles" .

Clash - a blow . uHe gave him a clash in the face" .

Clat - to scrape .

Clock - a hook .

Used in more modern sense also .

Clift - unwise .

"He ' s only half- clift . n

Clinch - to agree . settle .

Clip - blow.

Clip - frolicsome boy or girl .

Clipe - a tell- tale .

Glitter-cla tter - idle talk .

Cliver - generous .

Clean - quite .

11

He 1 s cliver with his money 11 •

uHe ' s clean done" .

Clemmed - perisped .

11

Clemmed with cold 11 •

Clods - fragments of earth , turf, etc .

Clodding - throwing .

Clocks - beetles .

Clocking - brooding, generally applied to brooding hens , but sometimes to persons - uwhat 1 s she clocking on now?u Cloots - feet .

Close - mean , secretive .

11 He 1 s that close he ' d starve ye an ' him with plenty11 • 11 You 1 ll not get the story from him - he ' s a close one 11 •

Clout - a rag or blow. 11 A dirty clout for a hanlikerchie f" .

11 A clout on . . the head might mend him" .

Clutch - a flock or nwnber of chickens or turkeys .

Fews Dialect.

Coarse - rough , stormy, etc.

11

11

(cont'd).

A coarse fellow".

A coarse day 11 •

Cock up - to set up .

Cocked-up - conceited. 11 A cocked-up upstart.

"Easy cocked u:p - easily pleased by praise.

Cod - a foolish person or a person easily fooled.

Gogg le - shake.

Cogly - unsteady.

Cold-rifed - a person who suffers from cold.

Colley - soot smuts.

College - gossip .

Cogglety-co rry - see-saw.

Condescende d - agree or consented.

Come at - approached.

11

She will condescend in the end".

nHe was come at by the other sideu.

Come by - respectable . nHe was well come by on both sidesu.

Come down - lost caste. nrt was a low come 0 down for her till be marrying him • Come in - useful.

urt will come in handy for somethingn.

Come round - various uses. 11He 1 s coming round" - recovering.

11 He 1 11 come round till my way yet". · dayu. of time his "A man come round till c,(

Come over - repeat. "He come over it again and again".

"She can't keep from comirig over thingsu.

Commerce - dealings.

"Have no commerce with himu.

~ - ~ 9 . fE04.'D-4 't01Nlq' ~«~C\-

Con - memorize.

Consate - pride.

Conversible - pleasant, easy to talk to.

"She's a ri~ht conversible wee -girl".

Few~ Dialect,

(cont'd).

There was a quare convoy there 11 • "He convoyed me part of the way st •

Convoy - hurnber, accompany.

11

Cop the ball". uHe will cop it when his father gets .him".

Cop - catch.

11

Copies - acting silly, capers. "Cutting c.o pies"- acting silly~ uDon't heed her copies 11 - capers".

Cop pig - a young pig fed by hand.

Corn - superlatively good.

0

He is the heart of corn11 •

Cornaptious - disagreeable.

Country crop - a particular kind of hair crop usually very ~hort around the neck and ears.

Counted - reckoned or thought. that way.

Coup - upset.

It is not counted well to talk

"He couped the cart".

Cove - cave. "Term often applied to souterrains.

Cowe - to intimidate.

Crab - scold, also a term appliable to children.

Crabbit - contrary.

11

He 1 s that crabbit he'd differ from his own wife if he had oneu.

Crack - gossip, talk_, news.

"What's the crack the day?".

Crack - a short space of time.

Cranch - crunch.

Crap - crop.

Creepy - a low stool usually on three legs. ~~)

Cri1s - to knock.

"I crigged my toe against a stone".

Croak~ about to die.

Crowlie - the smallest animal in a litter or flock.

Crucify - hurt, pain, annoy. ushe's crucify ye with her tongue".

Fews R1aleQt.

(cont'd).

Cruddle - to curdle.

Cruel - fine, big, very, etc.

"A cruel good girll.' . uA cruel size of a funeral 11 • ucruel richll.

Cruel hand - unfortunate. "His worries have made a cruel hand of him 11 ..

Crulge - crouch.

Cut - various uses. uThe dog cut me 11 - bit me.

"A cut of bread" - slice of bread.

11 A cut of hay 11 - auction term.

"To draw cuts 11 - · to draw lots.

"I'll never cut 0eat in that house again" - eat· meal.

Cutty - a short pipe,. but may al so mean small.

"A cutty spoon" - a Si:r1all s_poon. uA wee cutty 11 - small boy or girl .

Applied also to worn out spades, knives and other implements.

Cure - various uses.

uyou are a cure for sore evesu. . ., He 1 s a terrible cureu.

11

Curleys - curley kail.

Cute - astute. nA quare cute wee man that".

Fews Diale~ D.

(cont 1 d).

Dab - a lump, or to dip or soil. uA dab of butter, bread, etc.

"Dab the crust in yer tay, woman dearlu uThe child has dabbed its clane pinny".

Daisy-qu ilt - grave sods.

Daffy - silly.

Dander - to stroll slowly.

11

Dander - anger.

He raised my dander with his capers 0 •

Dandilly - flirt - ushe's anybodij' s dandilly 0 • Damsel - damson.

Dar - dare.

Debate - progress .

Dead-end .

11

0

He could make no debate for himself at all'~

You cud take your dead end at himn,

Deef - deaf.

Dealing man - usually applied to cattle dealers.

Death on them - opposed to.

Delude - coax, deceive. uHe 1 d delude the birds from the trees". boy she "She's only deluding him, the has another likes better 11 • Deluder - to deceive.

Demean - lower. "Don 1 t demean yourself be having words with himn.

Desperat ion - rage, want. ~ - to ~d'=-' 0"- ~ > € . .

Devil's dozen - thirteen .

Dint - mark.

I>oldrum - doubtful , confusin g.

Donay - delicate . ~-

.._

____

Fews Dialect.

(cont'd).

"He will meet his doom alright" .

Doom - fate, punishme nt .

Down-fac ed - brazen, bold.

11

A downface d rascal".

Dovm-loo king - forbiddin g . uHe has a very down-loo king aspect" .

Down in the mouth - in low spirits.

Down-tak e.

11

He 1 11 get a down-tak e yet 11 •

Down come - fall. uHe had a great do1,m come - he never got over it".

Douse - to soak or extingui sh.

Drain - a small quantity . uThere 1 s a wee drain left in the bottle yet 11 • Draw - pull, suck.

Draw over your chair" .

"A draw of the pipe 11 •

Drain - to empty.

u1et us drain the bottle 11 •

11

Dribs and drabs - small amounts or porti~ns .

Drig - a milking term.

11

Are ye sure she 's driP-ged dry" .

Dressing - a beating.

Drookit - wet, sodden.

Drop- quantity , planting , birth, state, etc.

"There's a bad drop in that familyu.

11 They are not a drop's blood till each otheru. uA drop in the hand" - a cup of tea. nshe dropped her calf".

0 He had a drop too muchu.

"The childer are dropping .potatoes ".

Drudge - an ill-used person.

Drudge - to dredge.

0

He drudged the flax-hole cleanu.

Druthy - thirsty.

Duds - clothes.

Dunt - push, strike.

---

.

-

qq_ Few§ Dialect,

(cont'd).

Dunch - punch, shove.

Duke - to hide by bending low.

Due - owing.

ur am due him the price of the calf 11 •

Durneens - the short wooden hand grips on scythe shafts.

Dwamish - sickish.

loo.

Fews Dialect, E.

(cont'd).

Earnest money - money given to seal a bargain.

Edge-sharp . ushe gave him the sharp edge of her tongue".

"Her temper 's a bit on the edge 11 • Endeavour - attempt.

"I will do my endeavour to ge·t i tu.

Erran - errand.

Easy come by - easily procured .

11

Easy come, easy gou.

Even - to suggest or impute .

"Would you even the like of that to me 11 • Even one I s 1.vi t - condescend.

Every - each.

Elsin - awl.

"I wouldn I t even my wit

uThere 1 s an egg in every nest".

on ye 11 •

Fews Dialect, F.

Face -

(cont'd).

J

11

I didn ' t meet face of clay all the way".

"The thing has no face on it 11 - an unlikely story ..

"It seems faceable 11 - seems probable .

Fadge - a cake of bread, also applied to a portion of bread.

"Give him a wee fadge for his pocket 11 • nHe's looking failed on itu.

Failed - ill.

Fall to - an invitation to eat.

Fangled - entangled.

nThe goat's all fangled in her tether 11 •

;

Farl - a portion of a circular griddle cake - the f.ourth part.

Farness -

distance.

"What farness off do you live? 11

\

Farntickles - freckles.

Fashion - habit.

0

Looking wise is a fashion he has".

uHe faulted him for spreading the story.n

Fault - blame.

Favour - appearance and resemblance.

He is well favoured.

He is ill favoured.

He favours his mother's side.

Feart

I

afraid.

Fetch - report or story. uHe has always some fetch in his mind.~ Fickle - liable to break, unsafe.

"The ice is in a fickle state 11 4 11 A fickle fenceu.

Bidge - fidget.

Figary - trick. uDo ye find the co·o1 breeze now?n

Find - notice.

Finished - perfected. "A finished blackguard". nA finished scholar 11 • Fire - to th11ow. ;,

"He fired a stone at itu.

Fissling - rustling noise.

Fizz - mark, impress.

1 s booze never fizzes on him".

"A ni P-ht >

lO~

Fews Dialec.t.

Fix - condition.

(cont'd).

urn a bad fix." .

Fell on - stumbled.

nThe horse fell on men.

- Feet - 11 in his feet¥- barefooted.

Feth - faith.

Fettle - condition.urn good fettle 11 • Fizzle - rustle or hiss.

Flake - beat.

uHe flaked the oul' mare".

Flameing - angry.

Flammery- - flattery.

Flatter - coax.

ur 1 11 flatter it out of him yet".

Flipe - an untidy or careless person, usually female.

Flit - to change one's abode.

Flite - a scltolding or silly person.

Fly - uA fly boyu - alert sly. ushe'd fly .at ye wifh her tongue 11 - temper. uHe let fly with his boot on me shin 11 - kicked. nHe let flay with his fists 11 - struck.

-Flush - a pool of1rater also used to denote plentitude.

Fluster - to confuse, hurry, etc.

Fogg - moss.

Follow - trade or profession.

uWhat does he follow?"

Folly - follow_.

uHe 1 d folly me anywhere".

Foot - standing.

Hflay on foot" - standing or uncut.

Fqot - various uses.

"Children said to have got the foot when they begin to walk. .

Old or disabled persons said to have lost their foo

Footing - authority.

"He has ·no footing over men.

Fsrws Pial,ect.

Footings

(cont'd).

'

small clamps of turf.

Footy - small, mean.

Fornenst - opposite.

Forrad - forward.

Founded - untrue statement_ nThere 1 s not a founded of your storyn - story unt~ uHis luck was ill-founded". _ Founder - chill.

uThe cow has a founder on her".

Foxy - sly, also applied to designate a red-headed man.

Fozy - light, spongy.

Frame -

to plot.

A framed story.

Freak - an odd kind of person.

Free - bold.

Anybody out of the ordl.inary run.

ushe 1 s too free in her talku.

From - distant.

0 I saw him from me a bit before the trouble startedn.

Full-farmer - well-to-do farmer. full drunk - very drunk.

Furbish - to brighten, dress, etc.

J·OJ:\-.

Fews Dia~.

G.

Gab.

I

(cont'd) .

"He'd deave ye with his. gab" - talk.

11 1 ! 11 swing me han' across yer gabn - mouth.

Gabble - to talk quickly.

Gainsome - winning.

ur 1 11 alter his gait pefore I•m through

Gait - way of going.

with him".

Gag - joke.

Gale - a gale of words - torrent. a strong gale - storm.

Galoot

fool.

Galluses - braces. l'Food galorett.

Galore - abnndanc e.

Gant - to yawn.

Gash - gap.

nThe cow has made a gash in the hedge" •

.Gather

to suppurat e.

Gat!J.er

to collect. Used in the sense of a crowd, and also to describe a collecti on of money for charitab le or other ·purpose s • .

Gatherer s - A great family of gatherer s.

A great gather at the wedding r crowd.

He gathered himself up - arose.

To gather apples - pick.

Get - a child born out of wedlock.

Girl - servant.

Girn - grin.

Give - to threaten .

u:r 11 give it till ye me boyn.

1

Bive in - acknowle dge. "I give in that you are rightu.

Gi~ing off - scolding .

Fews Dialect, Gizzard - heart.

(cont'd).

uThere 1 s divil a hate of feelin' in the gizzard of that oneu.

Glam - snatch.

Glower - to look in a rude sort of way - to •stare. ,-

Glut - over abundance.

nA glut of rainu.

HA glut of fruitu.

Go - quantity - "A go of water 0 ~ Go-between - intermediary.

Go-by - dismissal or to .pass ·over.

Goi~ on - tricks.

Gomeril - fool.

Gowphen - the full of two hands of anything.

Grate

disturb.

Great - _friendly.

0

Him qnd me is very greatn.

Greatly shaken - looking ill, .u nfit.

Great shakes.

No great shakes - of no consequence.

Grees~a - turf or wood ashes.

Griskin - boiling meat.

Grist - "That's the true grist of the storyn - proper · account.

Grisset - seems to be another name for cam.

Groun-st~ne - grindstone.

Grub - grubby - dirty.

Head full of grubs - silly, fanciful.

Grub - to delve or toil.

Gruelling - beating.

Gub-mouth. 0 close your gubu - stojl talking.

Gulch - small, fat.

Gulder - shout.

i•A wee gulch of a bodyu.

Io

Few§ Dialect.

Gumption - sense.

Gunk - disappoint.

(cont'd).

Fe;ws Dialect,

· -B~

Hag -

an old woman or depraved woman.

Hag -

to chop or cut.

(cont I d).

Hagging-bl ock - block on which wood is chopped.

Haggard - stack-yard .

Hanch - snap.

•. ·. ~ . - · Hand - various uses.

At hand - close.

To my hand - convenient .

A hand I s turn - work.

A bad hand at - not good at.

f~rst use of anything.

'~tieral - coarse, silly.

-Hap - to cover or clothe.

· ~ -d.

various uses.

Hardy morning - frosty.

Hard of hearing - deafish. _H ard ·man - close fisted or difficult.

Hard tack - strong drink.

Hard hat - bowler. ;Hard word~ ill word.

Hard used - badly used.

~i{arey - cunning .

.

well clad.

Well happed buried. spade a with Happed

like a hare as regards evasion.

.

. Harl - a lump~

~arn - hard.e n.

Ba.rtllll-scarum - wild.

Hash - to slash._ -

Hate - quantity_, etc. nput a hate of salt in the broth11 • uThe cow could be doing with a wee hat.e of ha "Not a hate of the story" - untrue. univil a hate I care". th~ Hate - heat. "The birds' tongues are hanging out with 0 hate •

\l)

Fews Dialect, Head - headway.

Head -

(cont'd),.

nHe makes no head with his lessons".

various uses. ttNot a word out of your head 11 • - be silent. uHe'd ate yer head off 11 - had a good appetite.

0 0ger the head of 11 - because of. · uover the head of the othersu - promoted.

"Good heads - clever men or women.

Head-rig - ridge on which the plough and horses turn.

Heart-scald - troublesome.

Hear tell - .to hear.

Heartening - encouragement.

11 A sunny day's the quare heartening in the hay fie Re.artsome - · cheerful.

Heavy charge - weighty burden.

H~avy han•~ul - troublesome.

-Eleavy - ·various .uses.

Heavy on the leather"-walks heavily. uHeavy headed" - stupid. ltHeavy handed u 0

-~-e~_1;or - bully.

unon 1 t hector me 11 •

·Hedge - conceal.

"He can hedge alrightu.

ijeel in - ,to place plants in a trench until they can be pr~p-~ rly · dealt with.

Reel - a light heel-· good dancer.

Heel - to empty or up-end.

Heel - end.

Heel the cart.

"The heel of the e·v ening".

Heels foremost - dead. HHe won't budge again until he goes ou heels foremostn.

Het - heat.

'1He was in a great hetn • .

Helter-skelter - disorderly or rushed.

Hinch - thigh.

Hilt nor hare_ missing. nThere•s neither hilt nor hair of the

\

Fews Rialeqt,

1H4self - various uses.

Hipple

(cont'd).

nNot himselflt unwell. ttFull of himself't - conceited.

limp.

Hirple - to walk with difficulty.

Hit - catch.

11

He 1 ll not hit the bus unless he puts his best feet forrad 11 •

H<~.>bble - trouble.

nshe I s in a quare hobble" - troubled.

Hoke - to hollow out or excavate.

Hqlm ~ sheltered land.

- Home _ ... -the grave.

H~~n .~.~ to gore.

"The long hcm:neu.

"The wee cow horned . the calf 0 •

Rot~i'oo-t - ·quick. ;1lpughl(;} . ;

-:-

..

move awkwardly.

Jp~t-_ - gr.ip, catch. ~~dders. - top sheaves of a stook.

"Put the hudder on the stook 11 - finished the story.

~~~~~muggery - shameful or secret conduct.

Hunker - to crouch.

H~er-slider - an untrustworthy person.

B~ry - ·haste.

u Sure there I s no hurryn • .,

Hurry - wait.

"Take you~ hurry in your handu.

Hursel - bronchial.

Hut - hit.

11

"He has a -bad hursel in his throatn.

He hut me first" •

• .,

'

. \t '

Fews Dialect.

(cont'd).

Ill - various uses.

Ill answered - impertinent reply.

Ill favoured - bad looking.

Ill put on - carelessly dressed.

Ill done - wrongly done. · Ill to handle - difficult.

Ill off - in poor circumstances.

I 11 tongued - bad tongued~ ,J/J ,.

OAI 4r1~cx \..e.-() - ·he. ~ v'" ·J- V'-"C ur imparted my mind to her 11 • Impart - to scold.

Imperent ~ impudent.

Ins and outs - the whole story.

Insense - to make someone understand.

In under - below.

In with - friendly~

nHe fell in under the cartn.

Fews Dialect.

J.

Jag - prick.

Jamenty - a country ejaculation.

Jap

splash.

Jig

dance.

n1 1 m all japped with mud 11 •

Jigged - drunk.

Jimenty Katty - an ejaculation.

Join - various uses.

0 I 1 m joined with Johnn.

11 the crowd t 1 The crowd joined and we had to run attackei Jog - push.

Joggle - to move from side to side.

Jouk - to stoop _to avoid a blow or to hide behind something. (See Duke).

Ju.bus - suspi_c ious.

Jun<iy

push.

Juke - to stoop or avoid.

S I

.

,,,

>,

/

,·

Fews D:;i,alect.

(cont I d).

X. Keek - peep or look.

Kem:ped - hurried, careless.

Keen.

•

11

Kemped work 11 •

"She'd be keen to throw her clothes with his 11 eager to. nHe•s keen on John's Maryu - he's fond of.

Keen tormented •

.Keogh-boy. - a smart or amusing young man.

Kilt

hurt. "He was as near kilt as if he were dead".

King - religion or faith.

nHe's not my -kind, he digs with the wrong foot". •

JCtndli:ng wood - dry wood.

Kindness - -a present. ttHe always brings a wee kindness with him 11 • Kink - an attack of laughing or coughing.

K,ennel.:. .kindle.

°Kennel the firen.

Kimeens - tricks.

Kitchen - relish.

t1Bu.tter to butter I s no ki tchen11 - bread necessa nShe could kitchen where Mary would only spendn she could produce additional comforts or foo -

.X ittery.-

Kittery-pawed - awkward hands.

Kitter-fisted - bad fighter.

Kittery - a fool.

Kittle - birth.

nThe cat has kittled".

ICitUng - a y~ung cat •

.

Knackery - knavery, trickery.

Knee-crooking - poor spirited.

uA knee-crooking crowd".

lCnowing - something small. "Just a wee knowing - don't be

• filling _the cup.

JCnowing • cunning or full of knowledge.· "He• s too knowing "A right knowing wee man".

Fews Dialect,.

(cont 1 d).

L. Labour - dig, toil.

Laced - beaten. "Pat•s Hughie was laced to ribbons in the

fight.u.

Laced - fortified with spirits.

Lamentable - lamentable news - bad. lamentaqle day - disagreeable.

Land - ar.rive. ~ , _~ rr-__.. , o.... 00 . · . l~ t ~ O '(Y1 ~~I - ~ • Landed - I landed him one on the nose - I struck.

.. . , I landed in time for my tea - arrived. _ l.<>M,euvv· - e,..~ ~~ l-CV""- e\Jz.,:~ 'n.NvY'l . ' Lant - scold. · 1

La --~ -. wrap.

'1t

Lapped

~1

I - ~

Lap the shawl round yen.

up - well · wrapped up.

Lashings of money - plenty, heaps.

Lashed water over me - splashed.

Lashed it all off - vomited.

He· °lashed it with the flail - threshed. _L1 . ; , .. _~ - n ~ ~':>hN-v\9 o-u-r{5.~q1 c0--~ \ ~ • ,t~s.t. 11No last in it. u · . . "He will not last- through the nightu - live.

Lash.

·t asty - lasti_n g. ~udy-_Qaw - a snob.

Law - To take the law to go to law. · To lay down the law - to talk with authority. , Lay - clear or 1.eave.

n1ay t1?,e house this minute".

Lay on - flattery, chastisem~nt, etc • .

11 She 1 s good at laying onu. u1ay on the brat 11 •

Learn - to chastise.

"I ' 11 learn ye if I get me han' s on ye-u

Leather - to beat.

Let on. "Don•t let on11 - don•t tell.

"We never let on we saw' her" - took no notice of her. ..... ..

He•s only letting on.11 - pretending.

11

"Let be 0 - leave alone.

11 Let on" - pretend.

Fews Dialect,

(cont 1 d).

Level going - easy tempered.

Lick.

Lick - a toady.

Lick - to beat.

Lick a blow; na lick on the ·snoutn.

Lick - - careless washing; nA lick and a promisen.

11 Lick thum's on thatn-a promise or pledge.

Lies near - something near; also applied to money in the bank "it lies by me till I need it·tt.

· _L ift. To lift the plate - to help with the collection in chu.rd ur did not lift you111 - failed to catch meaning.

"He'd lift anythint - steal. . uWhen does the funeral lift?n - start_ threat.

"I'_ll give ye a lift with my toen. ~A -dead lift" - a weight _raised from ground leve;i.

- long • )~jgety " . . ..

~

"'"::

,

.

;i.:ghts· - lungs. nRoaring his lights out for nothing at all 11 • "Like don I t know what u .. _:L.i.Ke-.

- "What like is the calf?n "'Summer liken.

"Winter liken.

what is the calf like?

#,le.,

-...I~ikeness - photograph_.

11

liad had -his likeness tuk".

Limber - easily breakable.

Line·s - certificat.e o.f baptism or marriage or c_ertificate of charact~r .,.

·.u_nge - to chastise • Lip.

· Lip - impertinen.ce~a Lip - taste. ! haven't .lipped drink the day.

Lint-hole - flax hole.

(this name dying out).

Load - quantity of drink.

"He has a full load the night, he·• s as drunk as a

Load of coul' - a bad cold.

Lo~k - a quantity or number. uA lock of potatoesn.

"A lock of hens st •

Fews Dialect,

(cont 1 d). \

Loft - upstairs.

Looby - big, careless, slothful.

Loodther - to beat.

Looks his bit - begs for food. uA poor man looking his bitn.

Looney - iunatic.

Longsome - slow.

uHe 1 s that longsome.u

uWhen your father's loose I'd -like a word with him 11 •

Loose - free.

Loose-leg - a person free to come and go.

1 bachelor has a loose-legu. ~ Looseness - diarrhoea.

Loy -

~

spade - seldom called by old name now.

Lue - lukewarm.

Lue water. Lue courting.

Lue friendship.

Lump it - put up with it.

Lump

. large. uGreat lump · of a childn - great large child. nFine lump of .a horse" - fine large horse.

HBig lump of a houseu - a big large house. ushe-'s been lying for months 11 - she's been lying sick!

Lying - sick.

Long-tongued - an indiscreet person.

Loose-tongued - a bawdy conv~rsationali.st.

Lug - the ear • •

. l (G.

Fews Dialect.

(cont'd).

H. Machine - trap or side-car.

HBr~:hg the machine round to the door".

Mad - angry.

Made up - pleased.

ushe was made up with the present 11 •

Maggoty-headed - foolish, difficult or obstinate.

Make - a companion.

uA fit make for him".

Make - urf ye make a move I'll brain ye 11 - attempt to.

Make

halfpenny.

Make forth - pass on. u:we mast make forth to wee Hughie 1 su - pass on.

Makings - material for.

uThe makings of a manu. nThe makings of a coatn.

Make little - to disparage.

"He made little of it but he was the buyer".

Male - food~ nrs he not in for his male yet? 11 • Mallyvogin - a scolding.

Maluder __ thresh, beat.

Manifest - plan.

11

Give him a good maluderingn.

ttA manifest lie 11 •

March ditch - boundary dit~h.

Mark. - scratch, impress.

.

"If my hands make an errand to your face they ·will mark it well for youu - scratch it.

•"The wee mare can hardly mark the ground, she I s that lame" - impress.

Marksman - a person who signs his name by a mark.

Marley - speckled.

Usually applie~ to~ p~rticular type of hen but occasionally used in a Joking sort of way to describe a person who is uneasy about his or her . hair turning grey. lfate - tood.

He•s quare and good at his mate" - applicable to animals also.

11

Fews Dialect.

(cont'd).

"He measured his length on the road". ·

Measured - fell.

Melder - a large mixed dish of food.

Mell - a wooden mallet used in breaking lumps of earth.

Melt - inside or stuffing; bothered, worried. u1 1 11 knock the melt out of b.im". t1He is fit till melt 11 • Mend -

t'Hell mend him"- deserved retribution.

"He's not mending this time 11 - not getting better.

Mich - to play truant from school or work.

ltidlin - not too well.

Hill - to -strike.

--Mind.

Mind me of it when ye see me 11 - remind.

"Do you mind the way he creepsu - see. nr mind that well 0 - remember.· t1

Miscall --to slander or abuse.

Misses - escape$ - tumbles. llThere•s not much misses his eye."

"I am always missing me footn - tumbling. "

fizzle - light rain • .Moan.

Indeed I moan you from my heartu - pity. · "I don't moan ye with what ye have" - sympathize.

11

lfoidered - bewildered.

Moiley - bare.

"Moiley hill" - bare hill.

Moiley goatt1 - bare or without horns.

·11

Moral of. "He's the moral of his father 0 - like. 11 "He's the moral spit of his grandfather

image 11

More - although. .lfortal - very.

-

"He needs help the more he said not • 11

He I s mortal bad

11

•

.

Moss - a turf bog. ~••cheeper - titlark, also applies to natives of the peat districts.

Fews Dialect.

N\ 0 ~ -

~'

,,

(cont Id).

·1LAA{ Y'Y)'\?-ut

Mouth _nA fool mouth"- silly talker.

"A foul mouthu 11 He niver said had I a mouth on me".

Muck - dirt.

Mug - stupid.

Muggy - close, wet.

Mumrnle - to mumble.

Murderous - Murderous wicked~ very.

Up murdering late - very A murdering hard worker - very.-

Fews Dial$ict, N.

Na;;L - strike •

(cont'd).

uNail him on the chin11 •

·H ail. "To pay on the nail u - to pay promptly.

Barra - narrow.

Marley~ small.

Near.

·.;,~ .-~~

Narley potatoes.

A wee narl of a calf.

Near friend - close.

Near hand - at hand. ~ear hand couped - almost overturned.

"She's that near she'd starve ye 11 - mean.

"A near hand way 11 - short cut.

:.~.-.

~~~egged - bandy legs.

"He'd be an upstanding fella if he wasn't nearlegged". r,;G

-Neb :~. ·b ill of bird or nose of man or animal. ~_-N.ciA&'I~- -vy,C{,;UL~• '-~ wance - news.. '-'Its newance to me" •

.Jt~:watls '";" unexpected.

0

rt Is newans to see you".

~~Emgled - fancy for .new apparel or work.

<i.t~k - Nick and go - narrow escape or margin.

Nick of time - right moment.

Nick - the devil.

A :ruck in the post - a mark.

li~e:~er - neigh.

n:rhe horse nickered 11 •

-~;p - to -nip or punch.

Nips~ little bits.

· ;~pping-col.d. uMy feet are nipping".

Bobbin - raised land in a field, sometimes applied to a small hill.

loriation - oration or noise.

11 heard the sermon or speech.

11 1 heared the noration

"There was the bludiest noration ye iver heardu noise.

I

lote - time of · cow's calvip.g- small. "Just what ye'd notice in the glass".

Few;s Dialect.

o~·

Odd - few.

(cont'd).

uThere' s only an odd one left".

Off an I on - from time to time ·..

Offer

to attempt.

Oil - beat.

uHe offered to jump it 11 • uFirst offer 11 - first attempt.

urr.11 oil his hide for himll.

pj_led - drllllk.

-on.

What did it on you ) ) to He is married on ) A kind word on On for fun - ready for.

Ora:4ion - nolse.

uWhat 1 s he orating about 11 •

~Op~:n weather - fine weather •

.Ou.!' ones - the family.

·0 ut.

Out by - out of doors. 11 It 1 s not the weather for being

. out by". .

11 Out of name - miscalled. She called me out of my name".

Out friend - distant relation. u:aas been out with me this long time" - no longer friendly.

"You're ail out in your storyu - wrong or mistaken.

Out by - away from home.

Over .. ~tl:b.e child's overu- asleep. ~He will over it this timeu - recover.

Ov.ered - recovered.

uHe has overed it well 11 •

.O\Terbaul - recite. "He could overhaul the whole piece for you11 •

Ow-d - 6wned. · "He o~ed till the doing of it".

'1He owes a quare take of iand 11 • Owes - owns.

Who owes this· coatn·. ·

11

O.xther - arm-pit.

Fews Dialect,

Pa.cIF - friendly.

(cont'd).

nThem two's very .pack".

:~- ?a.d - path • .

Paddle - walk. uHe's that wake he can barely paddle" •

.pang.- t.tI am panged fullu - I can eat no more.

"Par:g up his platen ~ fill or heap •

._P ant ·;... a story.

Patch - incomparable. HHe 1 s not a patch on his father".

Peek - pry. :Peg,, - a blow.

0

A peg

on the side of the head".

Pelt - the skin of an animal, also used to denote an unclad - ' person or the act of throwing - as "In his pelt" and "pelt a stone or two at itu.

Perk - nshe perking awayll - wasting. ushe's all perked up 11 - .brightened, dressed, pleased • . u!l perky wee bit". j~~~k~ty - precise.

P.ertised - sifted.

Pick - sift, search, choose.

"Can I have my pick?u - choice.

~ .o ltle - quantity.

l'ieee . -/ a distance. "'A quare piece off" - a good distance away.

"Put him a pieceu - accompany him part of the way.

"Piece" - a school lunch or a meal carried to workers out of doors.

P,i-g.i s back - well off.

Pike - big, lengthy. ttA pike of a manu - big or long.

nA pikey ~ater 11 - greedy.

Pink - to throw ac·c urately.

11

He pinked it first shot."

Pinney - pinafore.

Pins - legs • . 11He is well on his pins.u Pirtas - potatoes.

Fe\y"s Dialect,

(cont 1 d).

house or farm. nr 1 m going over to John's place 11 upeter has a tidy place". ~tl~ster - fuss.

J?.l_a y - conduct.

11

It will be the best of your play, not till meddle with him".

- furnish, stock. ~~i~sh .,.. ... .

11

.

~-'~ hed - untrustworthy.

A well plenished house or farm" • 11

A polished rascalu.

;~~~ mouth - to complain •

.'---~--,.~-~~

nA power of rain 11 • 11 A power of money".

- ~pprentice.

Prentic~ . .

i~t~ - haggle or steal. ;~~:d - -push or stick. :~~~g ~, .

. ..

- steal.

i-s-s·, ..:..-- sue • ,;~ -G

:. ·•:?-\·.. \

~ ~pough - plenty. "He has a brave prough with him 11 •

.

~~~h - uA wee p;ough of a placeu - very poor type of house. ~~e - to vomit, also applied to persons of a miserable

disposition.

-~ty - pretty.

Pln-ty bread - potato bread. ~ty middling - fair well.

Pus - di$contented.

Sour pus, etc.

Put about)

Put by

) upset.

Put by - excited, · anno_y ed. nr was put by myself with anger°.

F~w§ Dialect.

(cont'd).

Put on. 1111 She had hardly time to put on herself 11 - dress.

She 1 s good at putting on n - pretending.

Put out - a story. uThat 1 .s a quare put out for you till

rep~at".

Putting a face on him - showing an annoyed expression •

•

,

Fews Dialect, q.

(cont'd).

Qua - marshy ground or shaky bog-land.

Qua.re head - a scholar, or may signify the. effects of the morning after the night before.

Qua.re-cleft - partly silly.

Quicks - thorn plants.

Quit

nQui t fooling 11 •

stop.

Quit - acquit.

Quiz - question.

ur quit ye ,of it".

11

Quiz him as to where he was".

Quet - quit or stop.

Quest party - search party •

•

Fews Dialect.

(cont'd).

Rabble - to talk foolishly.

Rake.

A rake of butter - quantity.

A rake of flax-land - large number of acres.

Rampage - to stamp noisily or make a disturbance.

Ram-stan - rash.

Rammel-tree.

Beam in byre to which cow-stakes are fastened.

Ramp - to stamp about in anger or rage.

Rap - rascal.

raspberries.

Rasps -

Rattle-skull - silly person inclined to talk without thinking . . "ready the horses for the plough 11 •

Ready - prepare.

Reason - talk.

Red - clear, tidy up.

Red the way for the cart".

Red your hair, girlu. uAll red upu - work finished.

11

11

Reel

joke •

.

Reek - smell.

Reeve - splitting.

uA reeving pain in me head 0 •

Rench - rinse.

Resate - receipt.

Rib - A thi~ per son or animals.

uA stack of ribs 11 •

'

Ribbely - rebelly.

Rig-ridge. n~ckle a.1.

-a h eap.

J

''A · r i c kle of turfu•

"A ri· ckle of bones".

llitt - drift. "We rifted apart of recent years".

lit.t;..ratt - of no consequence •

Fews Dialect,

(cont 1 d).

Right - thorough.

Rightly - in good health or to know well.

"I am rightly thank you 0 • "We know rightly how to do itn.

Rigmarole - a long or involved story.

Rise - annoy.

Rouge- cheat.

"Let us take a ri:se out of him".

11

He 1 d rouge you that one if you weren't careful 11 •

Roughness - plenty.

Rub.

uHe could give ye a wee rubu - praise or disparage, according to the way in which used • .

Ructions - rows.

Rue - regret, repent.

Rug - to pull.

Rummell-shake.

Run - leak."The water has all run out of the potu.

Rung - step of la~der or chair.

Runner - A ·person who is always in somebody else's house.

Runs - goes. "The road runs from here till Armaghu.

Runt - small.

Rust - to take fright. To refuse.

"The horse rusted on men.

,.

Fews Dial,e9t,

(cont'd).

Sack - dismiss and applied to bags of all sizes.

Saggans - tall reeds or plants growing in water.

Sally - willow.

Salted - well salted

paid more than average price.

Sang - a common-expression. "Sang Aytn

Say - authority, agree. nHe has no say in the houseu.

11 say with her it saves trouble 11 • ·

.Scad - short, little.

Scaldsome - troublesome.

Scollops - rods sharpened at each end, then doubled and driven into the scraws in thatching • .Scope

to hollow out or excavate.

Sgore - to scratch. nscore her eyes outn.

Scrab - to scratch or tear.

Scranch - to crush or crunch.

11

-.Scrapers - feet. nwipe your scrapers before ye come in • S-craws - sods.

Sc-r eed - a story.

Scr~nge

creak or borrow.

Scroggy - waste land .covered with briars or bracken.

with Scrub - mean, but sometimes Used as a term of endearment 11 ua taking wee scrub tha'b • regard to a c~ild ""!

Scruff - back of the neck.

Scrunt - useless, small.

Scutfed - shabby.

Scum .. to skim.

u Scum the milk" •

Scunder - dislike.

Fewa l21slect.

(cont'd).

?laut - a ·mean person.

Seasoned

old.

'

~nsible - wise.

Seep

soak.

0

nMake me sensibleu

explain it to me.

Se~ping we.t n ~

Sets - seed potatoes.

-S et.

S~t ~imes - holidays, festivals, etc. ~etting set of him 0 - growing old or settled in his ways. uHe has set his farm 11 - let. nHe has set his potatoes 11 - planted. uHe is hard set on11 . - overtaxed.

"He was set upon" - attacked •

8

..S~t - to accompany.

u1 1 11 set ye a piece of the way" •

.Se.a.p age - ·1eekage. · S~t.t led - obstinate .. nHe 1 s that settled ye couldn't move him' be anything you'd say" • Shanks

...

legs.

.~a,nty - an old house.

·Shape

prepare.

ur must sh?-pe the field for the ploughing•.

· Shape - "In her shape u - without a coat.

Shay•c0ck - a small loosely built cock of hay.

Sheugh - ditch ..

Shilty - a pony.

Shilcorn - a face pimple~ Shine - a row or disturbanqe.

lb.ire - to clear.

Shore - a drain, also - a country expression for seaside.

Short-a-button - half-witted.

FIDts D:ia legt,

(cont 1 d).

Shorten the roa ~ - to have company on the journey.

Show

loan. nshow me your knife" - loan or give me the knife.

Show - give.

11

Show me the spade and I'll larn ye to dig".

Sb.owing Sunday - the Sunday after a wedding it is usual for the bridle and bridal party to attend the church in which the wedding took place • •

Shows - flax refuse.

Shi.ggy-~ho9 - sea-saw.

Shook for a word - at a loss for a word.

Sift - enquire.

nHe will sift it for youn.

Sipple - drink.

ttA wee sipple nowu.

Signed - -branded • .

Skedaddle - to move quickly.

Skelf - a wood splinter.

Skelp - a blow, beat.

Skelly - squint.

Bkelping - beating or running or-jumping about.

Skiff - shower.

Skinnjng the field - ploughing, usually applied to the breaking up of lea. hi

Skirl - scream.

Skirt - to run.

11

nThey have all skirted •

Skite - to splash or throw. · A light blow.

Skite. 11A skite on the nose 11 - blow.

That skite 11 - fool.

11He won•t be long skiting acrossn- running.

0

.

Fews Pl1?-.le~t,.!

(cont'd).

Slabber - a doleful person but sometimes applied to .a wet day or a foolish talker or dirty person.

Slane - a turf spade.

Slate.

Slate missing - silly.

Slating match - fight.

A good slating - hammering.

Slep - slept.

Slewsthering - kissing, fondling.

Slim over

to do careless work.

Slinger - a careless walker. nHe just slings along splashing into everything 11 • Slip - Pinafore or young person or · animal.

Blipe - sledge.

-~~l;>I~ -

~ ~ ~ ~ (?I ~ '("'°o-V\.~.

Sloister - a mixture.

Slope - to disappear or run away.

Sludge - damp mud of? sticky texture.

Slug - drink. uA slug from a bottle". ·Also applied to persons. who drink too much.

Smell - quantity.

11

11

Just a wee smell now to keep the hate in •

Smit - infected. -

·,

&ii ttle - infectious. ·

Smudge - to laugh in a secret or disparaging sort of way.

Smush - soft.

· ··

,

Smushed - crushed or bruised.

Sned - to cut, also applied to the handle of a scythe.

Snib - fasten. ' Snifter - to snift.

0

"Quit your sniftering •

Fews l2ialect, Snig - to cut or slash.

Slligger - laugh.

Soople - active.

Sore - A ·sore heart - sad.

A sore day - unpleasant.

He made a sore hand of the job - spoiled it.

Sore wrought - hard worked.

Sort - to tidy up or repair. _Sother - a blow.

A sother on the lug.

Sound - to spread or publi~h.

Souple - pal:'t of a flail.

Sowl - soul.~

·SO'.Wans· -..

Spakeing - .coiu'ting. .

"They've been spakeing now for some time".

Spang, sudden movement.

Spark - to splash - may also mean a gay or frolicsome person.

Spe~l - climb.

Spell - to . share· work.

11

We helpeµ. . them for a little spell".

Splagh - big feet - also used . to describe an awkward walker "He just splaghs along 11 • Spit - a slight shower.

Spit - iike.

nspit of his father."

Spleen - spite.

11

Don 1 t _vent your spleen on me".

Spraghle - to sprawl or walk badly.

Si>uds - potatoes. ~ - courage.

Stab - stake. "Put a stab or two down in the gap"'.

Fe:wa D1alect.

(cont'd).

...

Starr - sticlc.

Stagger - attempt.

Start.

"He staggered it anyhow".

"You gave me a start 0 - frightened me. ustart the game 11 - commence.

Starving - cold.

uA starving kind of day.u ¥-I'm starving - let me to the firen.

Stew - perplexity, condition. 11 In the devil's own stewn Stime - blind.

Stir - nA great stir of peopleu - crowd. nstir the fire 11 - poke.

Stock - the Side of the bed farthest from the wall.

Stoor.

"You're raising too much stoor - dust.

"He caused no .end _of stoor with his shouting" sto_rm, noise.

Strc;1.in - sprain.

-$trange - shy.

"He 1 s very strange unless he knows ye".

-

Strappe~ - large.

stride-legs - astride.

Stroke - to cover.

11

stroke it in with the harrow.u

Strong - strong farmer - well-to-do.

Going strong - doing well.

String - to hang.

Stroop - spout of kettle or teapot. strunt - sulk.

"Let him strunttt.

Stune - pain (intermittent).

Btupe - bathe.

Suck in - to mislead.

Suck - a toady.

Fews Dialect~ Sudden - quick tempered.

11

Kind but sudden like 11 •

Suggans - straw or hay ropes. ~p - quantity.

(cont'd).

Term little used now.

"It takes a brave wee sup to put him off his legsn.

Sup sorra - know grief, repent.

Swally - swallow; also pronounced "swalla 11 • same way in reference to drinking.

Sweet - insincere.

"Too sweet to be wholesome".

Sweeten - to encourage.

Swir.l - .blast.

Swinge - singe.

Swither - doubt. awitcher - oath. or exclamation. · nHe let a switcher out of himn.

Bwop - exchange ..

_Used in the

Fewa Pialect, f.

fack - taint.

(cont• d).

"The butter has a tacku.

Tack - elothes, money, 0 Without a tacku.

Hard tack - whiskey.

Soft tack - minerals.

!r~ckle.

uHe•s a quare ta,ckle 11 - wild. uA right wee tackleu - a child that needs much watching. . , u God help Pat with that tackle of a wife of · his 11 - difficult.

}1~~1ings - harness. uput the tacklings on - it 1 s time the horses were in the field". ~-: tntiting - ma.king little..

T"ake.- of..f - a mimic

u she I s

always tainting someone'.' .

or joking sort of individual.

-:~ tr.~g ..-- .mob.

Take - quantity.

nHe has

a quare take of land this year" •

- become ill. ._-_.,-,-_.,{{~ e bad '

- ~ ·,i,:,:·.-:· ·: .-_. .

- pretender. · 11 "He took off oul' John as if he were himself - . mimiced.

· ~~e off. uHe' s only a take offn

~~-e -on - pleased or deluded. u She' s so taken on with it n. nHe's that . taken on he sees no faults".

·--

.

Tang_s. - ends ·o f shoelaces; that .part of an implement that is

·

inserted in the handle or shaft.

iarrable - big, great, strong. 0 Tarrable windu. very - ·nTarrable wet".

Tare. 0 Tare across for the loan of a forku - run.

"A great tare of haws the year" - quantity. ?arge - scold. ,!~rging.

Targing all the time ·- scolding.

Targing along - hurrying.

!aste - quantity.

11

"Loan me a taste of sugar • 11

~aa~y • neat. nShe keeps a tasty house •

\

\ 3.9 { ·

Fews Pialect.

(cont 1 d).

Tell - to count - u1 could never tell twice twon.

Teem - uA tarrable teemu - · heavy shower ttHe teemed it out u - emptied.

Tent Thick

nr only spilled a tent

11

-

"Loan me a tent of tayn. ·

- stupid.

.

-

•

little quantity.

nHe•s a bit thick wittedn. uThem two's very thicku - friendly.

Thin - cl_l.illy or cold.

Tift - pleased.

UA thin dayu.

"In great tift with themselves" .

Thinking long - wishing. ~()le - endure. l'brapple - throat.

Thrawed - twisted, crooked. ~A"thrawed womann

"Thraw a -rope or two 11 - twist. crooked, difficult, disappointe d. Thraw - . contrary.

Threshel - threshold.

Tn.rong - friendly. -n~e two· of them are very throng 11 • Thronged - crowded. nThe farm is overthronge d with cattle"too crowded.

"The hall was thronged with peoplen crowded.

Thorra - thorough. nHe_t s only half thorra 11 - half sane.

!bought. A wee thought heavier. ~ough-oth er.

"A through-oth er housen 11 - untidy ..

"A through-oth er talker

!hrough - active. !hrough.

confused.

"A through-goi ng sortn.

"I'll be through shortly11 - along.

11 1•11 ·call thro1!gh some timeu - come along.

!hrow1ng oft - vomiting and sometimes used in the same sense as showing off •.

Fe:ws Dialect,

(cont'd).

!hru.$ - sore throat.

fick - credit.

Tied. "Eit to be tiedu - helpless.

11 We were fit till be tied we laughed that much".

"Fit to· be tied" - angry. uTied up in a knot 11 - fonfused.

Tight. uTightu- under the influence of drink.

11 Tight boyst - clever or strong.

1 ~Tight cornern- -difficult position.

!ighten - give trouble. urt will tighten the pin of his collar to do it 11 • ·r111.

nr niver put hand ·till it

11

-

"I wudn 1 t even it till him 11 ..

to.

fimersome - timid. !i~ered ... badly done - but may also mean worked at.

Tongue-· scold. .Took.

11

Her tongue would shear sheepn •

nThe wee calf took the ·1egs from me" - upset me. was long up till he took his :text 11 - announced. uHe t .ook off like a madman11 - raged.

"He took off across the fields" - ran.

uHe

fook out - went, -etc. uTook out across the fields, etc.

foom - empty. 11 Toom headed".

- Tornu.t - turnip.

Torry.

uAn oul' torryn - untrustworthy person.

uA great wee torryu - a romping fine child.

11 A torry" - a small pig.

!ouch - sickness.

Touch - to beg from. !raik - a long walk.

nrt•s a weary tra:ik ye had 11 •

!ram - shaft of cart. !ramp - a journey ob. foot. !~ice - a bargain.

11

I tramped it every fut".

.

Fews Dialect.

(cont'd).

Trig _uA trig wee farmu- neat.

"She's all trigged up 0 - dressed.

Trinkle

trickle. "There's a wee trinkle in the river still".

Trinnel

trundle.

Trollop - an untidy person.

Truff - steal.

uHe'd truff the eye from your head.

Trumpery - rubbishy - applicable to persons and materials.

Tryst - appointment. · Tully-eyed - squint-eyed. ~n _uA good turn11 - good fun. nnon 1 t turn your tongue on me 11 - answer back. ,:t•H~ wouldri 1 t turn for ye" - indolent, indifferent.

"The thatch turns off the rain" - runs.

"Hands turnu - ·things at hand. ttTurns round the farmu - work. uHe wudn 1 t do a han 1 s turn, he's that bludy lazy". '

·.Turned - soured..

"Turned milku - soured milk.

-~ry. - a small pig.

Twig - E.otice.

ur soon twigge~ the slipu - noticed.

Twist - ttA twist ·in the gutsu - stomach ache. nr twisted me ankleu - sprained.

"There's a twist to her tongue that's not aisy till standu.

1

Fews Diale~t.

(cont-- ' d).

Vnbeknownst - unknown to.

Unchancy - unlucky.

uAn nnchancy one" • . :a.:

Unusage - unaccustomed.

Up.

"Well set up manu - well built.

'Well set up concern11 - flourishing.

- t-Well s~t up in his storyn - perfect. n.up in himself 11 - proud.

1

Up with -.an incline. nrt 1 s a sharp wee up with to your place 0 • Upcome - ultimate issue of the business.

Up~ast -- revile, re·p roach.

11

She 1 s always up-casting things,

that one".

Upon - with or in_. nr 1 11 have a wee drop of water upon my whiskey".

~tfp~tttn.g · - annoying. · nAn upsetting person11 • -II.

'.~ '.i:d - to rid. ttr 1 11 soon unrid ye of it 11 • Up-take -

understanding.

~~~~ll.d -

11

He is quick in the uptaken.

tn~an, cUlll?-ih.g.

Unda~hand smile - a -smile that bodes ill toward? someone.

•

·......

Fews DialeQ.t.

v.

Vapour - to boast.

11

(cont'd).

To hear him vapour you'd think he owned the townland 11 •

•

/

Fews Dialect.

v.

(cont'd).

Wabbley - unsteady.

11

Wad - a handful.

A wad of straw, rags or moneyu.

Waited on - dying.

Wag - to beckon, also applied to denote a joky sort ' of person. ~

Wake - period between death and burial during which the deceased's friends and enighbours visit the house.

Wallop - a blow or a loose unsteady person. Sometimes also used to denote an armful or portion of anything.

Want :. without.

"We can't want the sprayer any more 11 - do without.

Water-table - a small channel to draw away water.

Way.

It I s a long way · from heren - distance. nShe has a great way ·w ith hern - agreeable, good manager.

"She has wee ways that draw ye 11 - compel you to like her.

11 She can•t help her waysn - an excuse for a disagreeable person. · 11

Wed - weed.

0

He went to wed· the thistles out yesterday0

-

weed.

Wee turns - small household duties.

"Wee sick turns 11 - illness•

Well put on - well clad or dressed.

Put upon - cheated.

Welt - mark, beat.

Welt the flure - to dance with abandom.

Whack.

"He will get his whack lateru- share• "He whacked him wellu - threshed, beat. uA whack of bread" - portion.

Wlup-snap.

11

He whipped it out of my hands. ·

Whale - beat.

Whatmnel - to tum over or cover.

Whang - a leather lace but sometimes applied to a slice broken from a farl of bread.

Vhapper - lie.

Fews J:2iaJ.aQ:t. ~at - "What way are ye the day?n - how.

"What come over ye?"

"We gave him what foru.

Wheel. "I 1 11 spoke his wheel 11 - prevent.

"I can't turn a wheeln - move.

Wheen - number of quantity.

Whid - intimation.

11

uA wheen of cows".

11

A wheen -of flax 11 •

I got whid of it beforehandu.

Vhigmaleeries - fancies.

While.

"He spent a while of the day ploughing" - part.

"He had a bad while latelyu - time.

11

Whiles - sometimes.

Whiles at home and 'Whiles not 11 •

Whinge - cry.

Wllins - furze, gorse.

Whimper - whisper.

Whip - run.

11

•~Not a whimper out of yen. ·

He will soori whip acro:s:s for it for yen•

Whittle - cut, loose.

uHe whittled the stick away.u nHe whittled the farm away".

Whollock - a lump.

Whotmnel - overturn.

uWhommel a basket over the clocking hen"·

Why for - why. nWhy for did you do i t?n..

Widow man - widower.

Win - to dry by sun or wind.

1f1ndy - the window.

'1iuing - small bundles of hay commonly called laps.

Vit - sense.

11

"He has some wit, that fella •

lfithout - unless. "Without it is done to-day, it will not be done at a11u.

Vor4 - "Did he leave any word for meu - message· NJla4 ye any word of him latelyn -news.

Fews Dialect.

(cont'd).

Words - qua.rrel. nwe had words once, we don I t speak now11 •

Writings - proofs.

"The writings are with the attorneyu - deeds.

Fews Dialect.

(cont'd).

I, Yalla - yellow.

yammer - complain.

Yap. "Always yapping"- complaining.

11 A wee yap" - peevish child.

Yerk - pull, thrust.

"He yerked me be _the arm 11 - pulled.

"He was jerked into the ditch" - thrust.

Yoke -"that I s a fine yoke. u uyoke the horse" - harness.

"They are well yoked" - matched.

Yon - that.

Your day - lifetime .. ~·

Yowl - · cry, yelp.