The Big Snow of 1947 recalled with James Reddiough
The snow was as high as the fences that year and people did not know whether they were walking on the road or on the walls or in the fields as they made their way to the nearby village. The harsh conditions and the scarcity of fuel and food made life difficult for both man and beast.
The arctic wind began blowing at the end of February and there was talk of snow among the people and then it arrived on the 24th February 1947 and continued well through the month of March and also there was snow on the ground in May as it lingered at its height the snow drifts were 15 feet high and covered the cottages and the shop fronts also in the nearby towns and villages. The local papers reported that the snow was 8 – 10 feet high in north Mayo.
An arctic wind brought blizzard conditions as the snow fell and road and rail services were paralyzed and the snow drifts left rural areas inaccessible to postmen and other vital services and in the towns the baker and the milkman were forced to use Horse and sleigh and donkey and cart as well as on foot to deliver much needed supplies of milk and bread. They managed to get through but still it is said that some 600 persons died during the 40 day Blizzard.
As the countryside disappeared under a blanket of snow there was no school as children on the way to school found themselves up to their waists and they were told to go home to where they would be safe. The postman in the Boyle area was lost overnight but managed to survive the harsh conditions to reach the town the next day having been found by a sheep farmer and nursed back to health. The Big Snow kept people to their homes as few were willing to venture out and they had to dig out the snow an ice away from their homes to get out. People from the services did their best to keep the people in touch and catered for during what was a difficult time.
At local level the Ballina Herald and the Western People of the 1st March carried banner headlines and stories of the Blizzard of February 1947. Both Mayo and Sligo experienced the blizzard very intensely and the reports from each area around Ballina and North Mayo bear this out. The telegraph system and the electricity were affected and so were the bus and rail services. Tragically three men were lost in the Bangor Bellacorrick areas when they went out ain the snow and could not make it back. Bonniconlon is mentioned too as Cahill bakeries had to get their bread as far as the Crooked Bridge and then bring it into the village in relays.
Interestingly enough one positive development of the Big Snow was the formation of the Ballycastle Boxing Club but the club had to disband in the 1950’s due to emigration during that decade.
The Emergency had just ended the previous year and there had been a poor harvest during 1946 so the people were no strangers to shortages from rationing and they were a self – sufficient people who depended on their own resources for food and this Spring of 1947 made life very hard indeed even if they did have food in the house in rural areas where people had their own supplies.
Such was the Big Snow or Blizzard of 1947 when the country was gripped by arctic conditions there had been a similar blizzard in Ireland in February 1917 30 years previously during the Great War and later in the century there would be other snow and ice conditions especially during the winter of 1962 – 1963 and also 35 years ago in the winter of 1981 to early 1982 and of course who could forget the arctic conditions of 2009 and 2010?
