Up until 1880 there was a window tax in Ireland. Taxes were levied on the number and size of windows. There were also taxes on the size, height and number of doors. As a result, the poorer peasant was frequently forced through lack of funds to keep the house dark and the ventilation to a minimum.

Nor were there many options for artificial light. The turf fire was the main source of light inside the cottage.

Many cabins did not have a chimney; smoke escaped through a hole in the roof or through the thatch in general.

Most cabins were smoky and dark. Obviously there were variations in size and a facilities with some families being better off than others. The following pictures show a variety of interiors,

The Herons' dwelling as described in the novel The Famine by Liam O'Flaherty

"was only half a cabin, as the Hollarans next door occupied the other half. Really only one room, it had been cut in two by a narrow wall that did not reach much above a man's height. Behind this partition was the family sleeping place. All the children had been put away there before the hag's arrival, lest they might get terrified by her raving. This was a useless procedure, as they could hear everything above the top of the partition. The living-room was in a very sordid state which was only natural on account of all those children romping about in a chamber that was only ten by eight, with a great deal of that space occupied by the furniture, cooking utensils and farming tools. There was even some oat straw and a little heap of potatoes, all that was left of the year's crop. The floor was an amazing sight. The earth had nearly all been dug up by the children and made into mud pies. The naked rock was exposed and it was quite difficult to walk from the door to the hearth, in the gloom which the light from a tallow wick could not dispel. There was hardly any light from the fire, which smoked badly. Heron, although he had his share of turf back in the common bog, had cut no turf that summer owing to a fight he had with the neighbour who cut with him. So he had now to rely on dried cow-dung for fuel. The dung had not dried properly and it smoked without giving light."

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Postmarked 1906

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There are many references to the Irish, especially in the west of Ireland, keeping their animals in the house with them.

However, it was the practice of peasant farmers the world over to keep their animals in or very close to the house. In the days before central heating animal warmth made a tremendous difference in comfort.

Ireland has given the world some very great men, ambitious lads who served their king in India, who have sailed the seas, and who have contributed much to the political and commercial life in America. Many of them were born and brought up in just such a cottage as this. It has only two rooms, a living room and the bedroom which is entered through the open door at the right of the fireplace. Above the rafters which form the roof of the living room and bedroom there is a loft over which is the sloping roof. Here the children sleep. There is no stair going up the loft only a ladder.

The only heat that any part of the house receives is from his homely fireplace. Though the stones of which is made are crude and the seams between the stones uneven it is strongly constructed. All the cooking is done here in the fireplace. Potatoes are boiled in the pot hanging from the bar. Bread is baked in a low iron kettle with legs. It is set directly over the bed of glowing coals and when necessary more coals are heaped upon the close fitting iron lid of the kettle. The only fuel used is peat, of which the Irish peasant must be careful, for though peat is very cheap he cannot afford to buy much.

The wooden chairs by the fireplace upon which these Irish people are sitting have seen long service. They are well made and have handwoven rush seats. On a winter night when the fire glows on the hearth the family gathers about and then stories are told about fairy folk and the banchees and witches.

"The miserable huts of the peasantry, seen by the feeble light which comes through the doorway and smoke-hole (to talk about chimneys would be an insult to architecture) give one the idea, not so much that the pigs have got into the parlour, but that the family have migrated to the sty. An unpaved clay floor, a roof of straw and weeds, dank, soaked and trotting overhead, a miserable bed in the corner, an iron pot over a peat fire, are the principle items of the property. Before door is a sink, black and filthy, for the refuse. Yet the inmates look hale and happy beyond what one would hope to see, and the thought at once suggests itself, how much might be accomplished by such a people, awaking to assert its dignity, and to discharge its duty."

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INTERIOR OF A HUT BY LOUGH CORRIB, GALWAY

The Graphic Dec 13, 1879

For contrast between the haves and have nots, here is an image of The Hall, Westport House, Westport, Co. Mayo. This 18th century Georgian mansion was built and is still owned by the Browne family, descendants of the Irish Pirate Queen Grace O'Malley.