I was born in the 1950s in Co. Galway, on a farm. The travellers/itinerants/tinkers were part of our lives. Traveller families would visit certain settled homes ie the many homes of people who would help them (my parents included) while avoiding the settled families who would ignore them - and there were many of them too. Normally the traveller women would beg for white flour, sugar, fresh milk and coins. The men would collect scrap metal, make and sell buckets and deal in horses and donkeys. Ireland back then was nothing like it is today. It was assumed in the past that the Travellers were people who were evicted during the great Famine of the mid 1800s and did not return to their original homes. This has now been shown to be wrong thanks to DNA testing etc. The Irish Travellers are now proven to be an ethnic minority group which is at least 1000 years old. Amazing Ireland.
Gone are the days when they'd be dances at the crossroads,you'd be run over tday.,too many cars on the country roads.....no more bastibles on the fire place....no more turf houses,no more cock fights...no more cockle picking ..the commercial dreges take them all.....these are some of de good tings that are now gone .....and many bad tings thst are now here .....! The aboriginal iriish the roaming clans are almost extinct...!
Sad Story !!!
I was born in the 1950s in Co. Galway, on a farm. The travellers/itinerants/tinkers were part of our lives. Traveller families would visit certain settled homes ie the many homes of people who would help them (my parents included) while avoiding the settled families who would ignore them - and there were many of them too.
Normally the traveller women would beg for white flour, sugar, fresh milk and coins. The men would collect scrap metal, make and sell buckets and deal in horses and donkeys. Ireland back then was nothing like it is today. It was assumed in the past that the Travellers were people who were evicted during the great Famine of the mid 1800s and did not return to their original homes. This has now been shown to be wrong thanks to DNA testing etc. The Irish Travellers are now proven to be an ethnic minority group which is at least 1000 years old. Amazing Ireland.
Gone are the days when they'd be dances at the crossroads,you'd be run over tday.,too many cars on the country roads.....no more bastibles on the fire place....no more turf houses,no more cock fights...no more cockle picking ..the commercial dreges take them all.....these are some of de good tings that are now gone .....and many bad tings thst are now here .....! The aboriginal iriish the roaming clans are almost extinct...!
What year was it
Not fun