2012:677 - Eyrephort Herd's House, Galway

A survey and excavation began on the 15/05/2012 on the partial remains of a vernacular building in Eyrephort townland, County Galway.
Although the building is in partial ruin the survey and excavation of the site confirm that it is the same building described as a Class 3 house in the census of 1901 and occupied then by the family of Peter Conneely, a herdsman. It is also at the same location as the house represented on the 2nd edition of the Ordnance Survey of 1898.
The original house measures 10m x 5m internally. The average wall thickness is 0.8m. The party wall is 1m thick. The original kitchen measures 6m x 5m internally. The bedroom measures 5m x 3.5m internally. The house was originally a two-roomed, stone-built house, partly rendered with lime mortar. The footprint of both rooms is still present although the entire north-west/south-east running front wall was rebuilt and reduced the internal space of the building by c. 0.4m in the original kitchen area. The remains consist of a living room/kitchen, altered for use as a turf-shed and store and the ruined remains of a single bedroom to the west. The bedroom hearth is still present in the party wall and a large wall niche is also present in the bedroom side of the party wall. An upper window has been inserted into the party wall above the hearth.
Orientated north-west/south-east, as on the 0S map, it is the surviving remains of a two-roomed, 3rd class rural dwelling from the late 19th century. The house may have been built when Peter Conneely and his wife Mary Lyden married in 1890. It is straight gabled and would originally have had a thatched roof, probably of oaten straw.

The survey and excavation established the original fabric of the building. Both rooms had stone paving as flooring and what survives of the paving may be only a part of what was there originally. This would have provided a degree of comfort for the family. The paving is underlaid in some places by a series of covered, narrow, stone-lined drains. What is particularly interesting is that the builders laid down drains prior to building the house foundations or laying the floor slabs. As the building was cut slightly into the hill behind it, water seepage could have been problematic without the construction of the drains and the drains would also have mitigated against rising damp in a building constructed without damp-proof courses.

Other elements of interest are the surviving fireplaces in the bedroom and the kitchen which are preserved in the surviving party wall. The arch over the kitchen fireplace does not survive, nor does the crane. It is clear from the siting of the house, tucked into and sheltered by rock outcrop with a steep hill behind it and falling ground towards the sea in front of it, that great care and thought went into the selection of the site. Every detail of the construction of the house was pre-planned, with the foundations and drains laid to accommodate seepage from the hill in order to try and ensure a dry and comfortable building for the occupants. It is probable that this family was entirely self-sufficient, deriving their food requirements from the sea and land around them. They would also have got their turf from the bogland nearby but evidence of coal was also indicated. The presence of a horse-shoe, partly embedded in the back wall of the kitchen chimney, is indicative of a ‘good-luck’ token deliberately placed there. Iron objects were often placed in chimneys and other entrances to houses, including windows and around or under doorways in order to protect the house against possible entry by witches. It is probable that, as well as herding the farm stock of the landlord, the family had their own stock on the farm and likely also kept a horse.

A herdsman in late 19th century Ireland had greater wealth than the average landless tenant labourer. Herding was considered to be a very skilled job and this particular herdsman controlled over 142 acres of good quality grazing land, on behalf of the Clifden businessman and shopkeeper, Bernard Lee. The annual rateable valuation of the land was £52.00. This was a considerable valuation for a Connemara farm in the late 19th century and indicated the quality of the land and its stocking value. It is not surprising therefore that the farm land the Conneely family occupied here, between Kingstown Bay and Clifden Bay, mainly consisting of the good quality sand-based grassland of the Eyrephort peninsula, was of a relatively higher quality than that of the neighbouring farms. The presence in the house of a nurse named Brigid Geraghty in the 1901 census is also of interest. Although the family had only two surviving children, the presence of a nurse may also have reflected a degree of wealth for the family. It is also possible that the nurse was simply a lodger and that she nursed in the orphanage located next door, which was run by the Irish Church Mission in nearby Ballymaconry. That orphanage was the subject of a notorious arson attack, allegedly by local republicans, during the Civil War in 1922. This Conneely house was abandoned in the late 1920s when the Conneelys built a new house immediately beside it.
A pre-construction hearth containing mortar and two fireplaces in the party wall were recorded during the excavation. Environmental samples were taken from them. Meadhbh Costigan compiled a paleoethnobotanical report of the contents of samples taken from each hearth. This study throws light on the family diet, indicating the use of wild edible fruits as well the presence of wheat and barley.
No midden was identified in proximity to the house however the presence of a scallop and a winkle shell in the excavated assemblage from the house reflects the close proximity of the house to the nearby shore, traditionally rich in foragable food which the family would have utilised.

Letterard, Cashel, County Galway