FERMANAGH PEASANTRY

Samuel Lewis

A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland

1837

The peasantry are a fine race, much superior in appearance to those of any of the other northern districts: they are tall, well formed, and robust: their countenances display the bloom of health, and they possess that uninterrupted flow of spirits which is the constant attendant on regular living and active, yet not overstrained, industry. Whether from habit or a natural propensity, the people do not rise until a late hour in the morning, and the cows are not milked until noon. The cottiers who dwell in the more retired and mountainous parts are poor, and their cabins are wretched huts, with a wattled door and a straw mat on the inside; many of the herdsmen, who are able to give their daughters a marriage portion of £20 and a feather bed, live in these cabins. The lower classes have no confidence in physicians: when one is called in, the patient despairs of life; hence a dislike is entertained for the whole medical profession. Yet, notwithstanding the reluctance to spend money upon medicine, considerable sums are lavished on the wake which precedes interment. The English language is universally spoken, and most of the children are educated in the parochial and national schools.

County Fermanagh | Fermanagh Baronies and Towns | Fermanagh Lakes and Mountains | Fermanagh Agriculture | Fermanagh Geology | Fermanagh Manufactures | Fermanagh Fish and Birds | Fermanagh Rivers | Fermanagh Antiquities | Fermanagh Peasantry | Fermanagh Mineral Springs

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