 These coincided with several years of severe harvest failures, which resulted in high bread prices.The result of this was that people were unable to support themselves or their families, being left in the utmost state of deprivation and destitution, with many evicted from their land for failure to pay.The Hearts of Steel protests and uprisings quickly spread throughout the county and into counties Armagh, Down, and Londonderry, which were also subject to the Hearts of Oak protest movement which it merged with.