Old Irish Cottages & Flagstones, Co. Clare, Ireland 1977

This extract looks at the replacement of old traditional homes with modern bungalows. Presenter Christopher Fitz-simon asks why.
We move out of the farmhouse or cottage, which was remarkably practical, into the sort of bungalow which is at home on the Kingston by-pass.
In this extract Christopher Fitz-simon looks at the move from old traditional homes to modern buildings. He also looks at the use of Liscannor stone in the building of homes, bridges and walls.
The film shows with a pan from an old thatched cottage to a modern bungalow. Two girls on a bicycle pass another modern house built beside an old thatched home. Zoom out from the thatched roof of cottage to show the front of the building. Two thatched cottages on the edge of a busy road outside Galway. A woman carrying a shopping bag enters one of the thatched cottages.
The camera pulls out from a modern built factory to show the two thatched cottages. Under these shots the Christopher Fitz-simon talks about the modern trend to move from the ancestral traditional built home to a modern bungalow. As well as this move towards living in newly built homes is where modern urban buildings encroach on the smaller traditional homes. Only the visitor from abroad seems to appreciate the cottage because it is pretty and it is Irish.
The exterior of two cottages with stone roofs in Liscannor, County Clare. Inside one of the cottages which has been renovated by an overseas visitor. In the second cottage which has been owned by one family for generations. The owner, an old man sits by an open fire with a glass in his hand.
Christopher Fitz-simon on how thatch is not the only traditional build in Ireland. He talks about the differences between the two cottages one recently restored and one that has been lived in by the same family for years.
The camera pans over potatoes planted between walls built of Liscannor flag stones. The camera shows the stone roof of an out house and a narrow lane with tractor and and trailer travelling one way and a girl driving cattle in the opposite direction.
Christopher Fitz-simon on how stone is used in so many different ways in this location. The flag stones are called Moher or Liscannor flags after the area they are from. A narrow country road with a stone bridge. A man drives a donkey and cart. Various shots of a triangular shaped stone cattle shed built beside the stone bridge. Christopher Fitz-simon on the interesting shape of the bridge walls and the stone flagged roof of the cattle shed.
Two men at work. The men are removing a flag stone from the land using hammers chisels and crow bars. They lever the flagstone free and remove the outer layer of stone.
Christopher Fitz-simon on the number of small quarries in the area, how the stone is formed naturally and how it is cut. Shots of flag stones that have been used to fence fields.

[@erroleabrown4317]

You know watching this I can see how determined town councils were to have every one live in town and paying for everything. I dearly wish that rural people had known how to stop councils interrupting their humble and heritage lifestyles, these people knew what true happiness and living and working together ment to the whole family

[@tzsteve33]

Great point, we are supposed to be more connected than ever yet we have lost something and if anything we live more isolated lives than previous generations

[@fredrickaappletree3402]

Very true and sad, it feels like we are getting closer to living in “workers complex’s” we are not following our natural evolutionary path but being guided along into the most useful lifestyle not for ourselves but others to make money from us. Are we “put on on earth” or whatever to work all our lives in factory or office then die? seems like we have been hijacked along the way.

[@annedonnellan6876]

@@fredrickaappletree3402 great reset.. smart cities.. fourth industrial revolution

[@annedonnellan6876]

Need to urgently rediscover self sufficiency

[@fredrickaappletree3402]

@@annedonnellan6876 I try to be self sufficient in my own small way👍🏻🙂 But when you think about things though we have been going down the wrong path for want of a better expression for so long it won’t be easy to escape from this consume consume consume lifestyle it’s like a drug. I’m a bit negative tonight saying with a friend who has mainstream tv something I’ve not got though choice or watched for ages. Can’t believe the amount of crap churned out it’s pure brainwash and massively depressing all false shiny feel goodness. Anyway hope springs eternal 💕❤️😊🙂🌺🌸🌹🤗💕

[@lucidmoment71]

As an Englishman I have learnt more about Ireland in the last 12 months from this channel than I had in 50 years of watching the BBC

[@noelfleming3567]

I hope u enjoyed d videos as much did ❤

[@Sanny-slim]

That's because you were watching the 'British' Broadcasting Corporation. They tend to focus on the UK.

[@marykategraham.205]

"""Those Cottage's have real Soul--- the memories keep them standing""---- Beautiful Post--- Go ráibh máith agát CR'S........

[@tzsteve33]

We are lucky enough to live in an old Irish cottage from the 1800’s, when we bought it no one wanted them so it was cheap as there once was a stigma attached to them, However it has more caracter and soul than any other building I’ve ever been in, sometimes I just sit and look at the walls and think of all the births ,deaths ,good times and bad that these walls have witnessed, if only they could talk what story’s would they tell, So many of them were bulldozed during boom times, thankfully protection orders are becoming more common but they can sometimes bring a different set of problems, Loved the vid 👍🏻

[@burntbacon7995]

🙄

[@mabcat37]

Same here, we bought an old cottage in Tipperary. Everyone suggested we knock it😡 we retained as much of the original as poss and created an extension at the back

[@MaryAnn-pd3pm]

Well done guys

[@Tamar-sz8ox]

Love & appreciate a 🇮🇹 home like yours 💜💕❤️ with Love 🇺🇸

[@ciararespect4296]

@@mabcat37 sadly a lot are living museums now. Full of artsy fartsy people . With a few bob play acting that they're back in rural Ireland but if course with all the 'mod cons' like running water and a jacksy

[@laetitialogan2017]

Happiest days of my life spending summers at my grandparents cottage. No toilet, no inside tap, no bathroom, no electricity...but they got around all those issues. Down the end of the acre and a potty, buckets drawn from the pump, a tin bath filled in front of the big fireplace and the oil lamp....the beautiful fresh homemade butter, a bastable cake done on the fire and plenty fresh potatoes, and oh..if you got the cap of a boiled egg...listening to ceiling house on the radio ( battery ), listening to story's around the fire, neighbours calling in, having a puff...we have it all now, and we're still not happy. Love you Nana and Gaga..

[@noelfleming3567]

I remember those lovely times sadly a different world now

[@MariaMartinez-kg6ns]

Thank you a lot and god bless irish people beautiful video

[@MaryAnn-pd3pm]

God bless you too.

[@prepperinireland2240]

Beautiful! We're lucky enough to live in an Irish cottage that's over 100 years old (with the exception of the 70's kitchen add-on). The walls are over a foot thick of local stone, solid and sound. There are two old outbuildings where you can see the incredible skill that went into putting together a mixture of huge blocks and small fieldstones that are still standing firm, no mortar used, just a skilled eye on what went where. There's a special comfort to be found in a solidly built cottage that would also be called a crofthouse in my native Scotland, built exactly the same way.

[@MaryAnn-pd3pm]

Happy for you. You are blessed.

[@lazycarper7925]

is it not cold

[@prepperinireland2240]

@@lazycarper7925 Here in Ireland, not at all, but in northern Scotland it pretty much was, even in summer.

[@lazycarper7925]

@@prepperinireland2240 i ask because im looking myself but, it looks like they can be hard work to get dry and warm, im looking for the west coast bcos its cheap , but prices have doubled in last 2 years, everyones doing it now

[@prepperinireland2240]

@@lazycarper7925 We're in the West, you're right in that prices have soared but if you're serious about relocating, better now than later imo when they've gone up again. Have you tried Daft(dot)ie? That's where we found our home. Most homes come with oil CH which isn't cheap but older houses like ours usually have open fireplaces in most rooms plus kitchen ranges (normally Stanley models) which like ours can heat radiators and water. Good luck with your looking. Here, you'll find decent homes with a small garden, it's usually the acreage that keeps the price high.

[@choctaw6838]

Thumbs up for a time machine 👍 Great video thanks 👍

[@piedrablanca4815]

I remember those times with joy and longing...everything was more authentic!

[@MaryAnn-pd3pm]

Would love those days back ❤️

[@laetitialogan2017]

Beautiful simple times

[@taichihead42]

@@MaryAnn-pd3pm We could still have them, you allowed Ireland to become the whore house that it is.

[@daylight44ful]

Liscanor Flagstone only the best will do .💖 Lovely Video . Everything is so natural .

[@disprogreavette8545]

Great video. There's a real art and creativity to building those walls,bridges and hearths and the Irish did/do a wonderful job of it. We've got slate roofs on some older homes around here but nothing like that. Cheers

[@janeday9148]

The videos are wonderful

[@emmetheneghan3927]

Just been laying liscannor stone today in my house... Nice to see some history on it...

[@Cayo_Cat]

Hi Emmett 🤣

[@Alphae21]

such a nice country we live in

[@MaryAnn-pd3pm]

We are blessed

[@TheDAT9]

Was, before all dem bluddy motorways and bungalows were built.

[@mfdixon2265]

What a wonderful video,it preserves the history of our ancestors.

[@curlytheunacceptable.4298]

During 2000's I was working in Lower Glendree, I had the good fortune of meeting the locals who were the most accommodating, friendly and helpful people, Jerry Broderick you are a legend.

[@elizdonovan5650]

Very interesting. Thank you. 🌲🌝🌲

[@tgg8267]

I love watching documentary's just before I was born 😂

[@kilkellymusic]

Absolutely incredible to see how the flag stone is quarried

[@noelfleming3567]

There was great tradesmen in those times

[@timothyrochford9767]

Fabulous report - so very interesting.

[@dellhell8842]

0:21 Ah the old Hino. They exploded onto the scene in the mid seventies, the first company to mass market a sound system with an integrated truck.

[@Shane-zx4ps]

They were very hard on diesel when they first came out on the Irish market, good oul Pino Harris made a fortune from them

[@dellhell8842]

@@Shane-zx4ps Were they? I wouldn't know. Growing up on a farm all I knew is I got to sit in the cap of one as it hauled our beet to the sugar factory. Another poster put up a comment that then disappeared that BMC let Pino Harris down and he then did a deal with Hino. BMC was an awful company. Before the Hino trucks arrived on the scene, the Irish roads were filled with Ford D Series, Bedfords and Leyland/AEC - all British. I know Leyland folded into DAF but the prevalence of Scania as you see on the roads today is another stark reminder of manufacturing decline in the UK in the '70s and '80s.

[@Shane-zx4ps]

@@dellhell8842 ok nice piece of information there, a friend worked for Harris and he said the Harris garage in Dublin assembled the hinos cause they arrived in parts

[@larrycantwell1740]

@@dellhell8842 k

[@petertomspeter8879]

Fascinating

[@farmhand6524]

@3:25 too wonderful. Ty...

[@edwardryan4480]

Good old days

[@hyperionone4208]

Sorry to burst the bubble, but most of the cottages were cold, damp, filthy, and unfit for human habitation. Flags were freezing to walk on in winter. The windows were small to keep what little warmth there was in the house. No running water. No inside lavatory. Thatch was full of spiders and caught fire at the drop of a hat. The air inside the cottage was dank, and stank of smoke mingled with stale human sweat. The walls dripped condensation. The doors rarely fitted their frames and the frames rarely fitted the doorways because the wood either rotted or warped. Sure, the stone walls were thick, but the wind used to blow through the mortar. Yes, they are pretty now, but they weren't so pretty, inside or out when poverty-stricken labourers had to live in them out of necessity.

[@marynadononeill]

@@hyperionone4208 Maybe in your experience, but in Donegal we had a beautiful cottage warm as toast. The secret is to keep the stove running on solid fuel (peat) 24/7/365. SO dry, so clean. Summer and winter. Live a home all the time. A fresh coating of lime wash. No creepy crawlies. Poverty, desperation and perhaps ignorance or oppression could destroy the happy home habits and lead to the picture you paint but done correctly much joy and beauty and love.

[@dawidwojtaldw]

I like Ireland in 1977😉👍

[@damianflanagan7359]

I was 15 in 1977 Ireland.. Used to visit my fathers homeplace in Galway where there was only oil lamps used by his brothers…That was the mid seventies..I grew up in the midlands.. Was glad to have grown up there..Lots of memories…

[@davidnyc487]

I love this ☘️🇺🇸

[@Discover-Ireland]

The thatch cottages at start of video is on Moneenageisha hill in Galway. And as for the factory he’s talking about,, it’s not!! It’s Moneenageisha school where I went. I passed them cottages every day and it’s only about 25 years ago they were knocked down.

[@Ethericrose]

They pulled them down? 😭

[@Discover-Ireland]

@@Ethericrose yep knocked them down and build a modern home behind the one on the right.

[@Ethericrose]

@@Discover-Ireland It's such a shame, those cottages were built to last 100s of years.

[@anthonymcloughlin2634]

Oh they haven’t knocked them down have they I loved those cottages. Unfortunately I don’t get back to Galway as often these days but I visited Mervue every summer as a child and most as an adult. So sad to see parts of old Galway disappear.

[@Discover-Ireland]

@@anthonymcloughlin2634 It’s not the same Galway anymore. The old buildings are nearly gone. My thoughts,,It’s losing its character old galway.

[@TerryTerryTerry]

Lovely video - sound too low though

[@dougtheviking6503]

Those stone cutters dont get paid enough

[@marybehan4347]

Oh my god that reminds me of my birth home.in ireland Bring back memories q.

[@barry5138]

The modern estate house is falling apart before it is even sold to the first owner....... great times then, reality before farce.

[@soniabonner3795]

I've seen some of these cottages in Limerick co Clare where my family come from.

[@robotrudy....]

thanks Nehmal

[@adammcateer9185]

No MICA on those walls!

[@hugostiglitz6914]

Even back then hedges and ditches were considered a negative to farming!

[@rhubarb40]

No eye protection for these guys!

[@user-yw3cy8pn3b]

Safety Squints and pre-emptive blinking is what is needed, although anything involving higher speed, larger objects that can ricochet I do wear high impact eye protection. I would be half blind now otherwise from a 12mm steel ball going flying ending up hitting me in the glasses, which cracked but stopped the ball. I wouldn't wear them to break stones because the eye can see it coming but have worn them working on dry hedges after debris going behind my eye, don't want to repeat that again. Often I see people wearing PPE for no reason other than insurance reasons or for false security and many years ago I saw a welder who closed his eyes while stick welding, he was the only one on the floor who did that mind you but some people are bizarre. I think it is much better to leave people to their common sense and their own ways.

[@1lobster]

Tenant? She does not own the house in which her family has lived for generations?

[@janesmith9024]

Most people never have owned anything - certainly in my family in both England and Ireland until relatively recently other than the occasional person.

[@1lobster]

@@janesmith9024 Admittedly I live in the rural United States, but mortgage is cheaper than rent.

[@maryxm1]

I'd say the word tenant here meant occupier....She would have definitely owned her home.

[@1lobster]

@@maryxm1 I suppose that’s possible since British English is different from American English. But we do draw a hard line on the distinction between tenants and homeowners.

[@maryxm1]

@@1lobster there would be no doubt in my mind that she would be the owner.

[@burrenmagic]

Look at the clear skies?

[@peterfitzgerald53]

Low volume on this , disappointed 😞

[@smiley9872]

headphones really help

[@johnmc3862]

It’s low but it’s acceptable.

[@MikeyJMJ]

Headphones will improve the sound

[@bartonseagrave9605]

As this was an archive film, I was hoping to see Spike Milligan.

[@noelmaher4633]

Anyone born after 2000, thats an original spreadsheet..#work #flagstone

[@frunomaol5069]

🙃

[@odonnchada9994]

☘🇮🇪💚

[@8nansky528]

I ADORE READING I ADORE PURENESS ONLY I ADORE WHITE COLOUR ONLY

[@Kate-dp4cg]

Can i buy one please and get the local community to help renovate it please

[@onemanandhisdogsgoawonderi4630]

Planners in the old days had no clue

[@jamesskerritt144]

Do you know where this footage is originally from?

[@BridgetCarr-qn9vh]

I remember James Price. very intelligent decent man with most unusual nose.

[@davequinn7201]

ah the old Hino going past,

[@bigjohn697791]

I was born in 1977 lol 😂

[@PAGANONYMOUS]

5:45 I wonder if that's how Ireland got the story about the land being covered in snakes before Saint Pat did away with them?

[@dazpatreg]

Real life Minecraft

[@user-yw3cy8pn3b]

I've explained to youngsters many times about real life Minecraft... But it's effort doing it for real...

[@agnidas5816]

3:38

[@Doo_Doo_Patrol]

Too bad, I wanted to watch this. My Dad's parents on both sides came from there. The sound quality is muffled.

[@RANDOMGUY-by4py]

no volume

[@MrRawMonkey]

Where are the potatoes?

[@ianjames1179]

It's a hard life, so it is. To be sure to be sure to be sure, it is that, so it is, to be sure to be sure to be sure it is.

[@elairedelacallematajare]

Stop taking drugs

[@katiewray2525]

Huh???