Postcard
Collection object
2005.0014
H. 11.2 W. 19.5
Postcard, b/w. Title at bottom right " Main St., Adare, Co. Limerick". View looking down a street lined with houses in foreground and trees in distance, in foreground a cart and a mower stand on an area of rough ground by surfaced road. Flock of geese grazing on the rough ground, seven men and boys looking at left of picture. Reverse printed in black; at bottom left "The potato crop, or its failure was responsible for Ireland's worst disaster of/ all time. In the early 1840's the country's 9 million population were hard/ pressed paying rent to their English landlords with cereal crops. For their/ own survival they depended almost completely on the humble spud./ Thus in 1845 when that crop was seen to have been completely destroyed by/ a blight, the nation was devastated. Over two million people died in the years/ following as a direct result of the Great Famine, and an equal number scraped/ together the £5 single fare to the New World to find a more bearable life./ The resilient 4.5 million people who stayed at home were to be rewarded with/ a breathtaking part in the country's history- The Industrial Revolution"; to right box for stamp and five address lines.