Houses Long Ago

transcribed at

Houses Long Ago  [duchas:4379238]

The houses long ago were made of clay and stones. Long ago they used to sleep in the kitchen as there were only two rooms in every house. My father never heard of the fire in the middle of the kitchen. The floor was also made of clay. The roof was made of thatch. There was a half-door to every house to prevent the hens from coming in to the kitchen. The light they used to have was tallow candles which they used out of sheep fat and for the wick they used to plait threads and put them in the fat. The fire they had was turf and wood as there was no coal. There was one door in every house. The chimney was in the middle of the centre wall of the house. It was made of clay and square stones.