Echoes of a bygone era in our crumbling cottages…

The relics of a forgotten Tyrone are scattered all around us. Hidden under overgrowth along country backroads are abandoned cottages and homes, silent witnesses to the history of our ancestors.

“If walls could talk,” the saying goes, these stones would unlock long-lost stories of local life.

Some houses have crumbled to mere rubble, while others still hold traces of lives lived – coats on hangers, tea cups by the sink, shoes at the doorway. Local townland historian, Paddy Montague, describes this era as a “way of life” that has now “disappeared.”

“Some of the cottages you see scattered along the backroads can be up to 300 years old,” said Paddy.

“You can tell by the types of buildings in the land and the types of stones they used.

“Back then, homes often included byres, sheds for cattle and chickens. You could identify them by the trough openings on one side.”

These cottages were built using large stones found in the fields, although some, like white stones, were avoided as they retained moisture, making homes damp and mouldy.

The abandonment of these cottages, Paddy says, was largely due to emigration and the pull of modernisation which drew rural inhabitants to towns and a more centralised society.

“Rural families just up and left, especially in famine times when many emigrated to America. You can see this by the ‘lazy beds’ left behind, where potato gardens were partially dug up and the others were left untouched,” he explained.

“Families also left for nearby towns in the 1950s and ‘60s, leaving their rural homes to ruin. The forestry department then bought rural land with these cottages on them. Some where knocked down but many were left standing.

“Ultimately, a lot of that generation have now died out. It is a bygone age that has disappeared along with its way of life,” he added.

Paddy also highlights the decline of townland knowledge, once vital to local identity but now fading in everyday use.

“Beforehand, when people were buried, they had their townlands put on their headstones,” he said.

“Even letters and parcels that arrived in the post would have included your townland. But the only thing they need now is your postcode.”

These crumbling cottages may soon be lost entirely to time, but while they are still standing we should appreciate the fact they offer a window into our traditional way of life in the not-so-distant past.