A life on the land: The story behind a new book of images from Ireland's farming history

In this new illustrated book, Michael B. Barry and John O’Byrne bring the story of the Irish farm to life, from the late 19th century to the close of the 20th. Through over 200 colourised photographs, the book captures the hardship and humour, the toil and togetherness

An elegiac scene from the Fermanagh countryside from around 1945

I was a townie, brought up in Ballydehob, yet I remember vividly the couple of miles I would travel in a horse and cart, clip-clopping out to visit a relative’s farm in Greenmount; on another occasion, harvesting hay in fields at Dunkelly, with Dunmanus Bay stretching below. 

Then came the threshing — the big, wooden-clad threshing machine — and the wonderful meal laid out in the farmhouse afterwards.