Narrow Water ferry in 1865: photo by Robert French, Lawrence Collection. That house in the trees on the right is Quarvue Farmhouse, then a single-storey occupied by the Casserley family. Their name with a different spelling is on the rent book of the Paget/Bayly estate (later Earl of Anglesea) from 1784, holding 22 acres of mostly mountain land with annual valuation of15 shillings. By the time the Anglesea Estate was sold off by government auction in 1857 the family was down to just over seven acres at annual rent of eight pounds twelve shillings and fourpence. They were tenants-at-will without lease or real legal protection: “tenancy determinable on 1st November (the Gale Day) each year.” The house in the picture seems to be slated: it certainly was by the time of the 1901 census. According to our neighbours the upper storey was built on in the late 1930s when De Valera’s government introduced a small grant to add extra bedrooms to rural dwellings in order to combat tuberculosis. The side walls of the upper storey were shuttered in concrete at a time when there was likely no mixer in the parish. Since it was not designed to be two-storey, the stairs are charming but very steep with narrow steps. More details at quarvue.ie