The Great Famine

Periodically, Ireland has suffered from famine since potatoes became the staple food of the country about 1700. For instance, in 1740/41 there was a bad famine and 400,000 people perished. Again, in 1822 the potato crop failed owing to bad weather, and though there was plenty of grain in the country, in May 1822 was reported to be in a state of distress "horrible beyond Description". Typhus and dysentry followed and there were many deaths.

But the famine of 1846/47 has made a deeper impression on us than any of the earlier ones, partly no doubt, because the older citizens of today knew and conversed with people who had lived through that terrible time and, furthermore, the Skibbereen district was one of the most severely stricken regions in Ireland.

Conditions became very bad in the autumn of 1846, with the result that relief works were instituted by the Board of Works and soup kitchens were established in Skibbereen, Baltimore, Sherkin, Cape Clear, Kilcoe, Creagh, Castlehaven, Union Hall, Aughadown, Ballydehob, Schull, Dunmanus, Crookhaven, Caheragh, Durrus, Drimoleague and Drinagh. There still exists a printed copy of the 'rules for the establishment of a charity soup house in Skibbereen', dated 31st October 1846, under which a subscription of 1/9d per month entitled subscriber to issue 2 tickets per day, giving the holder one pint of soup for each ticket.

On Wednesday 30th September 1846, 800 to 1,000 men employed at Caheragh on relief works - breaking stones on the road - struck work owing to starvation and bad treatment by the official in charge. They marched in formation on Skibbereen, implements on shoulders. The alarmed town shuttered all the shops, and retired to their houses, while Michael Galwey, J.P. mobilised the military in North Street, (built that year) opposite the Court House. At that time the roads to Cork and Caheragh branched just in front of the Pro-Cathedral, and the Caheragh road ran behind to the west of the school. Accordingly, the strikers could not see the military until they were about 20 yards away. Galwey ordered his men to load and the strikers halted. He seemed to have acted very tactfully as after some conversation with the men, in which he was assisted by McCarthy Downing, M.P., Galwey called for 'three cheers for the Queen, and plenty of employment tomorrow' to which the strikers heartily responded. The shops were then reopened, biscuits were distributed, and after 4 hours the strikers went away.

On the 24th October 1846 Denis McKennedy dropped dead while working on the Caheragh Road. At the inquest, held at the Abbeystrewery Graveyard it was proved that for the week in question, Mrs McKennedy, for her family of 5, had only 21lbs of potatoes (given by a neighbour), 2 pints of flour and one cabbage. Deceased's wages were 8d. per day, and same were in arrears for two weeks, owing to an official error. The jury found that the deceased died of starvation, owing to the gross negligence of the Board of Works, and, unfortunately, this was not the only case of its kind in the Skibbereen District.

Conditions grew steadily worse, though it was claimed that there was Government food stored in Skibbereen, which would not be handed out except at a high fixed price. In December 1846, Dr. O'Donovan of Skibbereen reported that he was besieged by applicants for coffins, the shortage of which had become a problem and that in a house in the Windmill he had seen two bodies which could not be buried for lack of coffins. Eventually, coffins with hinged bottoms were used to carry the corpses to the graves, from which they were dropped into the earth, and the coffins were then ready to bear the next body, which could be repeated indefinitely. The Doctor also reported that on his way to the Workhouse, he had found a woman lying in the dyke, paralysed with cold, with a dead child in her arms, and another almost dead clinging to her. She was trying to reach the Workhouse but had collapsed on the way.

People crawled into Skibbereen from the country, in the hope of finding some food, and died there. The Workhouse became overcrowded, and though built to hold only 800 people, eventually it had 1449 inmates, and then had to be closed against any more. The mortality there was frightful, 140 having died in December 1846 and, early in 1847 there were as many as 65 deaths in one week.

 The Skibbereen victims were buried in the workhouse grounds, in the Old Chapel Yard, and even in the cabins and gardens where they died, but mainly in the Abbey Graveyard, where a large plot of ground was reserved for them near the entrance gate, and in front of this the Famine Memorial has been erected, on which have been inscribed the following words:- "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Ps.CXV-5". " Erected to the memory of those departed ones who fell victims to the awful famine of 1846 amd 1847. Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine on them. May they rest in peace, Amen."

1.25 million people died in Ireland during those two years, more than all the servicemen from the whole of The British Empire who were killed during either of the two world wars.

There are two eyewitness accounts of the famine in our district which are too long to be set out here. The first is contained in a letter, written on 17th December 1946, by N.M. Cummins, J.P. Cork to the Duke of Wellington, reporting on the conditions in South Reen, in the Parish of Myross (where it is said the first famine death occured), and begging for official help for the starving people. The other is contained in a pamphlet entitled 'From Oxford to Skibbereen', published in Oxford in 1847, giving an account of a visit to Skibbereen, made that year by Lord Dufferin and Hon. G.F. Boyle, after which the former subscribed £1,000 to the relief funds.

Rev. Richard Boyle Townsend, the Protestant Rector of Abbeystrewery, who was interviewed by Lord Dufferin, and who worked manfully to alleviate the distress in Skibbereen, himself fell victim in the end to the famine fever and died  7th May 1850, and received what might be described as a public funeral, so much was he respected by all classes and creeds for his help. He was not the only one of the helpers who suffered the same fate.

Many of the buildings occupied at the time of the Famine are still in existence today, in varying stages of repair. The Skibbereen Trail is an excellent way to visit these.

The Great Famine Commemoration Exhibition at Skibbereen Heritage Centre uses today's media to give an insight into Famine times in Skibbereen. With a mixture of touch screen factual information, TV monitors with characters of the era telling the tale; it also features The Skibbereen Famine Trail showing buildings of interest around town. Open 7 days in high season, please contact + 353 28 40900.