extracted from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places by May Blair. COUNTY LONDONDERRY A Northern Whig of November 1922 states that a feature of the fair in Limavady that month was ‘the increased supply of labour, both male and female, for agricultural work, but there was still unwillingness to accept a lowered wage. The low prices prevailing for all farm products made the farmers reluctant to pay high wages. A large number were not fitted up during the day.’ Lizzie Scott was one of several I met who hired herself out in Limavady. She spoke about her experiences with an enthusiasm that belied her ninety-three years: 'Yes. I was hired at the Gallop. I was twelve. My mother brought me. My father was hired. My brothers and sisters, they all hired too. There was always a big crowd at the Gallop for the working class was all redd at that time. They had two or three days holiday in May and November – the two days they galloped. Yes. You spent the day goin’ roun’ the town just lookin at the stalls an’ wan thing an’ another. That was a great evening – the Gallop – for there was mostly a Dance on somewhere that night; up in the Orange Hall here; and they all went up there that was hired. Aw, it was always a good night’s dancin’ ’til the mornin’. The music; it was just an ordinary fiddle and a drum, an’ sometimes you had a melodeon; and we danced till the mornin’.       I was hired to John Loughrey. I stayed there at night. My room was just the kitchen loft. I went upstairs and my room went right in at the head of the stairs. I had to get up at six. It wasn’t high feedin’ in a man’s house then. You got plenty of porridge an’ plenty of spuds an’ plenty of buttermilk. When you got a wheen o’ good spuds an’ a drop of salt an’ a mug o’ buttermilk you were rightly done for.       My work was feedin’ pigs an’ milkin’ cows an’ feedin’ calves. One of the other women helped me to milk twelve cows: six apiece. An’ then we fed twelve calves. That was our first route. An’ we didnae get much ’til we had that done, an’ then the old lady that kep’ the house had the breakfast ready. After that I had to boil a boiler o’ spuds. You had to boil that before you fed the pigs. You couldnae a’ fed them without boilin’ that boiler o’ stuff. I wheeled the potatoes from beside Balteagh Church till Loughrey’s over at Cloughan. That would be about a mile; a barrowful; I dug them myself an’ gathered them and wheeled them in a barrow.       'Many a time I churned. The skim milk went to the calves. There was plenty of hard work wi’ them oul farmers an’ you couldnae a’ wrought to them. There was that much work milkin’ cows an’ feedin’ pigs an’ calves.       Then I got married when I was twenty-four. We got a cottar house wi’ people my husband wrought till – just a room an’ a kitchen. Lizzie reared a large family and in later years was to be regarded as handywoman of the district. Very few could afford to call out a doctor in those days, so every neighbourhood selected its own midwife. Lizzie was the first to be called when a birth was imminent, and was the layer-out of the dead when their days on earth came to an end.       Not far away at Carrick East William Purcell also hired help. Robert Allen was a good worker but frequently appeared in the morning with a black eye or cuts and bruises, depending how he had fared the night before when he boxed at the crossroads. John Simpson first hired there when he was barely fifteen. William felt so sorry for John that he bought him a coat and pair of trousers in Paddy Burke’s second-hand shop in Limavady before he left the fair. They cost him one shilling and sixpence. Then there was Ruby Meighan the servant girl. Ruby enjoyed her time at Purcell’s, though she didn’t always toe the line as regards the rules:       'When I worked at Purcell’s you had to be in at ten o’clock. ’Deed many a time you were watchin’ fellas at the crossroads shootin’ marbles or throwin’ horse-shoes at a peg, an’ you had to ring that peg; an’ you forgot all about the time. But anyway this night I was late an’ the back door was locked an’ I says, ‘What am I goin’ to do?’ I’ll have to knock somebody up.’ And the pantry was on the left. And for some reason or other the window hadn’t been snibbed [closed]. And there was a barrel of flour always kept wi’ a lid on it. An’ of course I opens the window nicely an’ I steps in the window an’ stepped into the barrel of flour. The lid was on the barrel but it toppled over when I stepped in. And you talk about a mess! And I had to clean that up an’ keep quiet an’ not waken anybody. And it wasn’t easy because the boss and mistress slept in the room exactly above that. I tell you I was the sorry girl that I’d stayed them wheen o’ minutes late. It wasn’t worth it. I tell you I was never late from that ’til the day I left. John Simpson worked at Purcell’s too. The boss used to go across the landing at half five in the morning and shout, ‘Come on boys, we’ve slep’ in.’ They had to work wile hard then. There was a lot of heavy work carryin’ water to cattle. Sure you’d’a pumped for about two hours. Many’s a time you’d a give them a kick wi’ your fut to see if they’d stop drinkin’. It was all hard work them days.       Extracted from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places by May Blair. Previous extracts regarding County Derry/Londonderry: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Forthcoming extracts regarding County Londonderry: Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13

[ Back to Top ]

All Material © 1999-2009 Irelandseye.com and contributors