2-888-260 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Keillines, near General Thompson's Property, 1850. Poverty in Ireland during the Potato Famine. Scene '...on the road between Maam and Clifden, in Joyce's County, once famous for the Patagonian stature of the inhabitants, who are now starved down to ordinary dimensions. High up on the mountain, but on the road-side, stands the scalpeen of Keillines. It is near General Thompson's property. Conceive five human beings living in such a hole: the father was out, at work; the mother was getting fuel on the hills, and the children left in the hut could only say they were hungry. Their appearance confirmed their words - want was deeply engraved in their faces, and their lank bodies were almost unprotected by clothing'. A 'scalpeen' was a rudimentary shelter built within abandoned or deliberately levelled homes. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.