One of my favourite places to research Irish folklore is the Schools’ Collection on Dúchas.ie. I use it regularly when I’m looking for an unusual story about a place, an old Irish custom, a local belief or something that people once talked about in a particular part of Ireland.
For me, it is one of the great treasure troves of Irish history and folklore available online, particularly because of the way the information was collected.
What Is the Irish Schools’ Collection?
During the late 1930s, schoolchildren around Ireland were encouraged to collect folklore, traditions, local history and memories from people in their own communities.
The children went home and spoke to their parents, grandparents, neighbours and older people living locally. They asked them about the stories they knew, the traditions they remembered, old beliefs, local characters, cures, customs and events that had happened in the area.
The children then brought those stories back to school and wrote them down.
That is what makes the Schools’ Collection so fascinating to me.
Irish Folklore Straight From the Horse’s Mouth
In many cases, this is about as close as you can get to information straight from the horse’s mouth.
You are reading stories written down by children after speaking directly with people in their families and communities. Some of those people were already elderly during the 1930s, so the memories and stories they shared could stretch much further back into the 19th century.
It gives us a remarkable glimpse into what ordinary people around Ireland actually remembered, talked about and believed.
Of course, Irish folklore is not always the same thing as proven historical fact.
If somebody told a child that fairies lived at a particular fort, that treasure was buried in a field or that a certain cure could fix an illness, it does not automatically mean those things were historically or scientifically true.
But that really isn’t the point.
The importance is that people believed these stories, repeated them and passed them from one generation to another. That tells us an enormous amount about Irish culture and about how people understood the world around them.
What Can You Find in the Schools’ Collection?
This is where the fun really begins because the variety of material is enormous.
You can find stories and information about:
- Irish folklore and local legends
- Fairies and fairy forts
- Ghosts and supernatural stories
- Irish superstitions
- Old folk cures and remedies
- Holy wells
- Local saints and religious traditions
- Place names and how they originated
- Old Irish sayings and proverbs
- Riddles
- Traditional games
- Old occupations and crafts
- Farming traditions
- Local characters and personalities
- Stories about historical events
- Hidden treasure
- Strange happenings
- Stories about particular fields, roads, ruins and landmarks
- Everyday life in rural Ireland
Sometimes the most interesting entries are not the famous stories at all.
It might simply be somebody explaining why a particular field had an unusual name, describing a strange character who once lived nearby, remembering an old tradition or telling a story that was only really known within that particular community.
A Simple Guide to Using Dúchas.ie
If you have never used Dúchas.ie before, the amount of information available can seem a little overwhelming at first.
My advice is to keep it simple and start with something you already know.
1. Go to the Schools’ Collection
Visit Dúchas.ie and open the Schools’ Collection.
This is the section containing the material gathered by Irish schoolchildren and their teachers during the 1930s.
2. Start With Your County
If you know what county your family came from, start there.
Looking through the material geographically makes the collection much easier to explore and immediately brings you closer to the communities that interest you.
3. Search for a Village, Parish or Townland
If you know the village, parish or townland connected with your family, try searching for that too.
For anyone with Irish ancestry, this can be particularly interesting. You may discover stories that were collected only a short distance from where your own ancestors lived.
4. Look at the Local Schools
The collection is connected to individual schools around Ireland, so you can also explore the material gathered by children attending particular schools.
If you know where your family lived, looking at the nearby schools can sometimes lead you to stories from exactly the right area.
5. Search by Subject
You do not need to be researching your family to enjoy the collection.
Try searching for something that interests you, such as fairies, fairy forts, holy wells, folk cures, ghosts, superstitions, Christmas traditions, Halloween, marriage customs, old crafts, local legends or place names.
Then see where the stories take you.
6. Allow Yourself to Go Down a Rabbit Hole
This is probably my favourite way to use the collection.
I might begin by looking for one particular place and then find a reference to a fairy fort. That leads to another story, which leads to an old local belief, which then leads me somewhere completely different.
Before you know it, an hour has disappeared.
That is part of the enjoyment of it.
What Can the Schools’ Collection Teach Us?
For me, the Schools’ Collection gives us something that ordinary history books cannot always provide.
History books naturally concentrate on major events, important people and dates.
The Schools’ Collection often gives us the smaller stories.
It tells us what people believed about a particular hill. It records the cure a grandmother used. It tells us why somebody would not disturb a fairy fort. It records a story about a local character, an unusual event, an old trade or something that happened in a particular house generations ago.
These small pieces of Irish folklore help build a much bigger picture of how people actually lived.
You begin to understand the beliefs, fears, humour, traditions and stories that were part of everyday life in Ireland.
Why I Personally Love Researching It
At Gifts of Ireland, we love telling the story of Ireland, and the Schools’ Collection really is a treasure trove for me personally.
I genuinely enjoy researching it.
When I am looking for something interesting to share with our audience, I do not always want the same well-known Irish story that has already been told hundreds of times.
I like finding the smaller stories.
The strange local tradition. The belief attached to a particular place. The story somebody’s grandfather told them. The old cure. The forgotten character. The unusual piece of folklore that might otherwise have disappeared.
The Schools’ Collection gives me a way to find those stories from people who were actually connected to the places and communities being discussed.
Connecting Our Irish Gifts With the Stories Behind Them
This research is also important to what we do here at Gifts of Ireland.
We sell Irish gifts, but for me it has never simply been about showing somebody a product.
Ireland is full of symbols, traditions, crafts and stories, and wherever possible I like to understand where those connections come from.
If we are talking about an Irish symbol, an old tradition, a family name, a particular craft or something connected with a place in Ireland, I want to know the story behind it.
And I want to share those stories with you.
That is part of what makes an Irish gift meaningful. There is often a much bigger story sitting behind it.
Try Searching for Your Own Irish Roots
If you have Irish ancestry, I would strongly recommend exploring the Schools’ Collection yourself.
Start with the county your family came from.
If you know the town, village, parish or townland, narrow your search down further.
Even if you do not find your own family name mentioned, you may discover stories from the very community where your ancestors lived.
You could be reading an account written down less than a mile from their old home.
For me, that is what makes this archive so special.
It allows us to get much closer to the voices, memories and Irish folklore of ordinary people around Ireland.
Explore the Irish Schools’ Collection
If Irish history, family heritage or Irish folklore interests you, have a look for yourself.
Choose a county or place that means something to you, start reading and see where it takes you.
You genuinely never know what you are going to find.
Aidan Geraghty 💚🇮🇪☘️
Gifts of Ireland
In 1976 I spent the summer collecting material folklore for my thesis with a nod toward blacksmiths. The result was that upon returning home to the US I set up my own blacksmith shop and now have been 50 years behind the anvil. I decided that the academic life was not for me! Though I have a fair collection in my library of early collections from the 19th century am excited to access this!