2-888-080 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ruins in the Village of Carihaken, County of Galway, 1850. Destruction of rural homes by the 'levellers', during the Irish Potato Famine. The poor were blamed for their situation. 'At Carihaken the levellers have been at work, and tumbled down eighteen houses. In one of them dwelt John Killian, who stood by me while I made the accompanying Sketch of the remains of his dwelling. He told me that he and his fathers before him had owned this now ruined cabin for ages, and that he had paid £4 a year for four acres of ground. He owed no rent: before it was due, the landlord's drivers cut down his crops, carried them off, gave him no account of the proceeds, and then tumbled his house...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.