Up until the early 1970s, Ireland was primarily a rural economy characterised by small family farms, market towns and industries based on natural resources. Listen here to the stories of the people who grew up in this society that has all but disappeared from our modern landscape.
Click on the blue text in each of the titles below to hear the stories of life in the countryside in days gone by.
My Father’s Farm Life
Tales from the ‘Plain People of Ireland’ From a series of stories about Life In Rural...
‘Townie’ on the Farm
Tales from the ‘Plain People of Ireland’ What is often forgotten today is that up until the...
Cork Winters, Galway Summers
Tales from the ‘Plain People of Ireland’ From a series of stories about Life In Rural...
Young Boy in Rural Ireland
Tales from the ‘Plain People of Ireland’ From a series of stories about Life In Rural...
An Irish Mother
Tales from the ‘Plain People of Ireland’ Women are the great unsung heroes of human...
Berries to Bombs
Maisie Sherlock's life encompasses the history of modern Ireland. She was born in 1921 when the...
The Travelling Shop
From the 1940s up until the late 1970s, the travelling shop was an important part of rural...
Mowing, Threshing & ‘Meitheal’
Tony O'Gorman talks to the pupils of Fohenagh School of life in the locality during the 1940s. His...
A Hurley at Every Door
Sean Keane, born in 1923, is interviewed by pupils from Fohenagh national school about his...
Barley & Ghosts
In the second part of his interview Tom Joe talks about his skepticism of ghost sightings...
Dancing at Arms Length
In the second part of his interview Lennie talks about life in the rural district of Carrabane in...
Art of Recitation
In this episode Sean Keegan, while being interviewed by the children and teachers of Creggs...
Rural Life in Creggs in the 1930s
In this episode children from Creggs National School interview Harry Delaney as he...
Leprechaun Gold & IRA cells
In this episode local farmer Tom Jo gives the pupils and staff of St. Michael’s National...