In 1841, over 70% of Irish people still lived in the countryside, and Ireland’s population had doubled in under a century to over 8.2 million. Reasons for this increase included: • The Irish tended to marry young and have large families.
• Enclosure and other improvements to farming methods arrived in Ireland, as in Britain, and the new machinery produced more food than before.
Most Irish land was owned by landlords who were descendants of the planters. Irish people rented and farmed this land, growing crops to feed their families and pay their rent. Most farmers in Ireland were tenant farmers. There were two types:
• Large farmers were farmers who rented more than 30 acres. They hired labourers to help them on the farm and grew wheat and barley to pay their rent. They also kept some cattle and sheep. Their diet consisted of meat, milk, potatoes and other vegetables.
• Small farmers were farmers who rented between fi ve and 30 acres. They divided land amongst their sons. They grew wheat and barley to pay their rent. Their own diet consisted of potatoes and milk.
Poorer people worked as labourers. Cottiers were labourers who rented one acre from a farmer. They usually paid their rent by working for the farmer. They had a one-room thatched cottage and grew potatoes. In 1845, there were one million Irish cottiers. Counting their families, this made over 4 million people – half the population!
A cottier’s cottage and family
CHECKPOINT! 1. What was the Agricultural Revolution?
2. Explain the following terms: Norfolk system; enclosure; selective breeding.
3. How did technology change agriculture at this time? 4. What was a cottier?
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I can explain the differences between life in Britain and in Ireland in the 1840s.
TIME TO GO BACK I CAN MOVE FORWARD 217 DID YOU KNOW?
The potato is not native to Ireland. Sir Walter Raleigh is thought to have brought the potato to the island from the New World around 1570.
