The home

The earliest memories of the interviewees generally concerned the childhood home. When he was three years old Leith Burgess moved with his parents to a house near Doagh of which he still has clear memories: ‘We moved to McBride’s farm at Kilbride in November 1945. I can vividly remember the thatched roof, whitewashed walls with about a foot and a half tarred around the bottom. The cassie [lane] was covered with shunners – cinders from Cogry Mill.’

Many of the interviewees were raised in houses that lacked the basic amenities that are now taken for granted, such as running water, electricity, inside toilets, and bathrooms. Annie Hill grew up in Hunterstown, Doagh. She remembers that water was supplied by a pump outside the front door and buckets were kept beside it for carrying in the water. Hot water for washing was produced by the range in the kitchen. There was no electricity in the house and lighting was provided by an oil lamp which had to be filled every day. Annie recalls using a candle to go up the stairs to bed. Many others related similar experiences. One of the Gribbin brothers remembers that he had the task of filling the lamps with oil before it got dark. Roisin McLernon recollects that one of her sisters looked after the lighting of them, both in the house and yard – ‘quite a ritual’, as she describes it. In many homes the only heat was from an open fire. Turf was burned in fires around Toome, but there were few mosses near Doagh and so here coal was used.

Generally speaking, the homes of the interviewees were not large. Several children might have slept in one bedroom. In his childhood home, Graham Andrew recalls that the three boys slept in one room, the four girls in another, with their parents in a third. Owen Gribbin talked about the ‘settle bed’ that was slept in by the younger children. There might have been five children in the bed, three sleeping one way and two another with the result that you might have woken up to find ‘somebody’s big toe sitting up at your nose’. On the other hand, though she came from a large family of eleven, Roisin McLernon points out that because there was such a gap between the oldest and youngest, the entire family never lived together at the same time.

The home in which Edmund McLarnon spent most of his childhood in Moneynick was designed by a qualified architect, his mother’s cousin, Bob Barton, who designed many houses in Belfast in the interwar years. This house, which was built 1937/8, did have an inside toilet and bathroom. There was no mains water, however, but a well in the backyard and a hand pump in the scullery. Everyone had to take their turn with the pump, especially if they had had a bath and the tank needed refilling. Later a Lister diesel pump was installed. In other homes bathing was more basic. A tin bath was used in the Andrew home. In Robert Chesney’s home the water came from a spring. He can just about remember a windmill pump being installed in 1936 which supplied both the house and farm.

The most interesting childhood home of any of the interviewees is that still lived in by Mary Ann Higgins. A listed building, it bears the name Union Lodge. In 1837, the house, which was then called Union Hall and the residence of Robert Davison, was described as follows:

The house is 2-storeys high, slated, and was commenced in 1834 and finished in 1837, and cost 1,000 pounds. It is situated near the corn mill in the townland of Ballymatuskerty, on Lord O’Neill’s estate. The above appropriate name was given to it by the proprietor Mr Davison, as it was from the benefit of the union linen Mr Davison made his money.

Soon after this, the property was acquired by a Green family with whom it remained until acquired by Mary Ann’s parents in 1925.

Food and Diet

Half a century and more ago the food people consumed was much simpler than it is now and people’s dietary requirements were more basic. As Robert McConnell put it, ‘If you got a boiled egg for your tea you thought you were going well’. When asked what his typical meal was John Cushinan replied, ‘Plenty of potatoes and a big plate of champ and a dab of butter’. Homemade soup and porridge were among the answers given to the question on favourite foods. Cahal Boyd’s favourite meal as a child was yellow Indian porridge last thing at night, while for Gerry McCann it was eels fried in the pan. Leith Burgess also enjoyed eels which his father brought home from Cogry dam – ‘an innovative change to our diet’. Frankie Dale’s mother made a type of white stew with potatoes and onions – ‘lovely, you couldn’t stop eating it’.

Rabbit meat was once very popular. Leith Burgess remembers that rabbits provided more than half of the meat they ate. His father had nets and snares for rabbits; they also had a lurcher called Midas which caught rabbits. Frankie Dale remembered the ‘lovely rabbit stew’ that he enjoyed as a boy. Tom Andrew also remembered rabbit meat being widely eaten and that people went out with ferrets to catch rabbits. The spread of maximatosis in the 1950s largely put an end to eating wild rabbits.

A high proportion of the food consumed by the interviewees was produced at home. Most people had their own vegetable garden and a large number kept a few hens and even pigs for their own use. For those living on farms that grew cereals, there was a ready supply of meal for baking.

Roisin McLernon recalls where her family’s food came from

We were sort of self-sufficient because we had eggs … and we grew all our own vegetables, we had potatoes, and we seldom ate red meat because we always had chickens, and maybe killed a pig and had that.

Greta Milliken talks about meal for baking

We had our own wheatmeal, we had our own oatmeal, which was from our own crops, and then that was put into a big bin and we were able to use that during the year. You would get maybe 2-hundredweights at the time and that lasted you right through the year to do all the baking.


Some of those interviewed remembered their mother baking nearly every day. The Gribbin brothers recalled that their mother made wheaten bread in the open fire using an oven pot with coals placed on its lid; a long knitting needle was used to test if the bread was ready. Graham Andrew remembers that his mother was a good baker who made her own fadge, sodas, bread etc, using a griddle. In Derek Lorimer’s home there was an open fire with ovens built into the walls. Annie Hill recalls her mother making fruit scones which were a special treat on a Sunday night.


Judging by the diet of some of those interviewed, the secret of a long life would seem to be a hearty fry. According to 96-year-old John Cushinan, ‘The fry was well thought of.’ Likewise the Gribbin brothers indicated their enjoyment when children of fried bacon, eggs and bread. Robert Chesney recalls that the men who worked on his father’s farm received a cooked breakfast every morning. If she wanted it, Annie Hill had a fry in the morning before school or else porridge or cereal. Hanni Reinhardt commented that coming from Denmark to Whitehead the Ulster fry was a novelty to her, but one that she enjoyed. For most people eating out was a luxury that was rarely, if ever, enjoyed. The only ‘fast food’ was provided by the fish and chip shops in Whitehead or, for the people of Doagh, in Ballyclare, while Chinese and Indian restaurants were unheard of.

What we now take for granted was for many of our forebears a real delicacy, even a luxury. As a child growing up in the 1920s, Roisin McLernon remembers that a white loaf was a ‘great treat’ and was only for special occasions. She and her brother would have shared a slice and they competed for the half with the ‘straight’ (crust). Robert McConnell remembered that every Wednesday during the summer a man would call at Fourmileburn in a pony and trap, one stop in a journey from Ballymena that took in Parkgate and Doagh. There was a ‘fridge’ on the trap for ice-cream. A slider cost one old penny, but even this was more than he could have afforded. William Andrew Turkington’s mother-in-law, Mrs Bell, had her own business in Mill Row making toffee apples. ‘They were good, he remembers, ‘they didnae last 5 minutes’.

Communications

The first of the modern communication devices to appear in most homes was the radio, or wireless as it was generally referred to. These were usually powered by what were known as ‘wet’ batteries that could be recharged and, depending on usage, could last for around a week. When the Gribbin brothers were young the only wireless in the area belonged to the Mulhollands in Toome.

In 1933, Roddy Gribbin, his brother Willie and another boy walked there to listen to an All-Ireland match; Roddy remembers that the house was packed. Cahal Boyd also has memories of going with his father to the home of his aunt, Bridget Carey, to listen to an All-Ireland football match. Unfortunately, the radio batteries went flat and they heard only half of it.

Those who needed a telephone for their business were generally the first to have them installed. Around Toome Edmund McLarnon’s and Gerry McCann’s parents had telephones for their grocery businesses, while Brian McKenna’s father Arthur had a telephone for his dental practice in Whitehead. Brian still remembers the telephone number – Whitehead 19. Trevor Monteith has clear memories of the telephone in his family’s home in Cable Road, Whitehead, and the local exchange where a telephonist would put the call through to whoever they wanted to speak with.

For those who did not have a telephone of their own there were a number of options. One was to call round to a neighbour who did have a telephone. Mary Ann Higgins remembers that one of their neighbours, who was a road contractor, had a phone and they could have used his if necessary. The nearest phone to the Chesney home was in Carlane school. Robert Chesney remembers running down to the school one night in 1948 to get the schoolmaster to ring for the doctor to come out to his seriously ill father. Brian McKenna recalls people calling to his home to use the phone. There was a box on the table for money to be placed in, though Brian wonders whether people were always honest about where they were calling.

There were also publicly available telephones. Maureen McMeel went to the Post Office in Toome to use the telephone. Cahal Boyd remembered the first phone kiosk at McCoy’s Corner and people wondering how it worked. Annie Hill recalls a place on the Burn Road in Doagh where you could go to make a telephone call. Finally, as Roisin McLernon observed, the simplest way of getting a message to someone urgently was to jump on a bicycle and pedal to their house.

Leslie Bell remembers that before the telephone was installed his father regularly received telegrams relating to his business from Thomas Leake, the postmaster in Toome. Leake kept a blackboard outside the Post Office that regularly read, ‘Alec Bell please call’. For Cahal Boyd the sight of the man coming with a telegram from the Post Office in Toome meant bad news for it was usually to notify them of a death.

The Gribbin brothers told the story about the time their father received a telegram from his half-brother who was training to be a teacher in Drumcondra. He was ill and needed money to come home. In order to raise the necessary funds, their father thrashed wheat all night with a flail and then took the straw on a cart to Draperstown where he sold it for thatching; he then wired the money to bring his half-brother home.

In the 1950s televisions began to increasingly appear in homes in Northern Ireland. A major boost for television sales was the Coronation in 1953. Brian McKenna’s father bought a television specifically to watch the Coronation. Brian remembers about 20 people gathered in their house to see it. In Doagh a crowd gathered in the school to watch the Coronation on television. By the mid 1950s the Lorimers had a television and Derek recalls his neighbours calling in to watch the FA Cup Final. While some people purchased their television, others rented a set. Trevor Monteith recalls that his family rented the same television for over 20 years.

Celebrations

When it came to birthdays, most interviewees indicated these were not celebrated, either at all or in a big way. A few stated that they might have received a small present or had some friends round. Roisin McLernon remembers that her sister baked a cake for her birthday, while Matt Quinn recalls that a bottle of lemonade might have been bought.

The words ‘low-key’ and ‘unostentatious’ spring to mind when describing the ways in which the families of the interviewees celebrated Christmas. That is not to say that Christmas was not important or that it was not looked forward to. Roisin McLernon remembers that her mother always went out of her way to make Christmas special and many others spoke nostalgically of the Christmases of their childhoods. Greenery was the most popular form of Christmas decoration. Eithne McKendry remembers holly and ivy in her home in Whitehead. Edmund O’Donnell, George Laverty and Bessie Quinn also recall holly used as a decoration at Christmas.

In Brian McKenna’s home there would be a freshly-cut Christmas tree with about half a dozen large lights on it. Kathleen McKenna remembers helping her brother make decorations from coloured paper. There were church services, either the night before or on Christmas morning. For Hanni Reinhardt from Copenhagen one of the main differences in the way Christmas was marked was that in Denmark the main celebration was on 24 December.

Christmas Day was usually spent with the immediate family. The gathering in of family members from far and wide was not widely noted. Eithne McKendry, on the other hand, went to her maternal grandparents, the Kemps, in Cable Road, Whitehead, for Christmas where there was a large family gathering.

While many of the interviewees indicated that they had turkey for Christmas dinner, there were alternatives. Brian McKenna’s family might have had a large chicken. Cahal Boyd’s family had a goose or even two drakes at Christmas. Roisin McLernon’s family might also have had a goose or a duck at Christmas. John Milliken also recalls having goose at Christmas which was probably one they had themselves raised on the farm. In Cahal Boyd’s home there might have been a time of singing after their Christmas dinner.

Santa did visit some homes, but the presents he left were usually very simple. Annie Hill recalls hanging up a stocking at Christmas which she would awake to find filled with an orange, apple, pencil case, or toy. Apples and oranges were received by many of the other interviewees. In addition Cahal Boyd might have received ‘a wee bag of sweets’. Toys were something of a luxury, and some presents were more of value on the practical side, like the jotter and pencil that the Gribbin brothers remember receiving. A gift of money was also appreciated. For Matt Quinn the gift of 10 shillings seemed a fortune. There may have been other treats. Cahal Boyd remembered that at Christmas his mother bought a fruitcake from the grocery man which lasted them a month.