Soft bound hand-written fair-copy manuscript of an account by a Mrs. Strickland of Roscommon, giving details of her efforts to induce the local population to grow flax between 1818 and 1820 to help alleviate the poverty of the area. It gives details of her arrival, “The quantity of beggars besieging the hall door and swarming in the passages & offices was quite a nuisance & everything stolen they could lay their hands upon”. She gives details of the project, and is happy with the outcome. “Now you do not see a beggar for weeks together & I should think about 50 families are almost entirely supported by the spinning …” She ends by commenting on the importance of education, that children are eager to learn and that this would give them an advantage in life. 15pp. [University of Galway Archives]