When Ireland recovered after the great famine of 1847, the rural Irish embarked on a lifestyle that changed very little until the 1960s. These were tough, proud and hardworking people who understood the value of community, where ordinary people squeezed a frugal living from a few acres of poor land. These small farms became the bedrock of country communities where open turf fireplaces, oil lamps and horse-drawn carts were the order of the day and where hard work and interdependence was necessary to survive. This was a time when electricity and indoor plumbing was yet to arrive on the scene...