Connaught Telegraph carried vivid description of the starving during the Famine

PART TWO

By Tom Gillespie

THE situation at the workhouse in Castlebar at the height of the Famine in 1847 was chronic, where the diet of the inmates consisted of bread only. There were increased reports of patients dying of typhoid, exhaustion, dysentery and diarrhoea.

Thanks to the detailed research by local historian Brian Hoban we have an insight into conditions in Castlebar workhouse.

In February those suffering from infectious diseases were refused admittance in case disease would spread among the inmates, and they were left to die on the streets.

In May several wards were turned into infirmary wards to house ‘idiots’ - those experiencing dementia.

An interdenominational committee known as The Evangelical Relief Committee was set up in an attempt to provide assistance for starving thousands. The Catholic and Protestant clergy supported this body and received aid from The Society of Friends and other charitable agencies. They set up soup kitchens and tried to distribute meal to the poor and hungry. The British Association for Destitute Children distributed corn meal for starving children with up to 380 children being fed daily.

Rev. M. Stoney, the local rector, received turnip seed from the Quaker Relief Committee. The local Catholic clergy, Reverends Curley, Geraghty and McGuinness, also purchased £400 worth of seed and tried to persuade the people to till the land.

There were some abuses of the distribution of relief, however, and in some instances soup was distributed in return for conversion to Protestantism, a practice that became known as ‘souperism’. The Catholic hierarchy responded to the practice by setting up monasteries such as the Franciscan Monastery in Errew, near Ballyheane.

In Spencer Street in Castlebar an orphanage existed for orphaned and illegitimate Catholic children where they were fed and indoctrinated for conversion to the Protestant faith. This home was known as a Bird’s Nest Home.

As the plight of the masses worsened, disease and death were commonplace. The local peasantry began to get more desperate. Cartloads of grain being transported had to be given a RIC escort. Instances of convoys of grain being attacked are robbed were reported at Newport, Westport and Turlough.

In an effort of desperation Rev. Edward O’Malley and Rev. O’Donnell resorted to breaking into a grain store at Turlough and stealing four cartloads of grain in an attempt to help feed their parishioners.

Rebel groups known as Ribbonmen robbed food wherever they could to help feed their destitute neighbours. Some people entered the workhouse just to get a decent burial.

Instances are also recorded in The Connaught Telegraph of the starving breaking windows in the town in an effort to be committed to gaol – where at least they would be fed.

Sir William Thackeray drew attention to the sign over the entrance to Castlebar jail ‘Without Beware. Within Amend’.

The Board of Public Works was established to provide work. This scheme, known as outdoor relief, employed many for six pence a day building roads, bridges and high walls around landlord’s demesnes.

In Castlebar, the drainage of the local river was suspended in 1847. The following year a scheme was introduced draining Saleen Lake, which was situated on part of Lord Lucan’s estate.

In 1847 some 3,221 people were added to the list of people employed on such schemes in the Mayo area leading to a total of 11,358 being employed in the county.

In spite of whatever aid was provided Castlebar suffered more than other area as thousands fled to larger towns in search of aid. One report given by Lord Frederick Cavendish in The Connaught Telegraph gives a clear picture of how conditions were in Castlebar at the time:

"We saw hundreds of people crawling in from the countryside, with asses carrying baskets with starving children and crippled old men and women.

"They numbered at the time about 3,000 people. It is surprising that so many asses survived. A gloom hangs over the town. And this hunger outside the workhouse is only a drop in the ocean. Many never made it to the workhouse. The many thousand brought to the workhouse screaming for food couldn’t be relieved.

"Many of the dead were carried for up to four miles to be buried, others were buried where they fell."

The pathways leading to the workhouse were known as ‘Casain na Marbh’ - the paths of the dead. Oftentimes corpses were left unburied for up to four days as there were no coffins available to bury them. In some cases bodies were buried without coffins, sometimes covered in sackcloth.

Some of these graves were very shallow as the people did not have the energy to dig deep graves. The local Catholic priests established a coffin fund to collect monies to provide coffins for the dead. In some cases door-to-door collections were held to enable relations bury their loved ones.

Emigration became a common way of escaping starvation with sailings departing weekly from ports at Westport, Newport, Ballina and Sligo.

People were often seen in the streets of Castlebar trying to sell furniture to make the fare for their journey. In some instances orphaned girls had their fares paid by the local Board of Guardians. Many did not survive the journey and many of the ships became known as coffin ships. Many were buried in mass graves in places such as Grosee Ile in Canada.

Up to the present times lazy beds - places where potatoes were tilled in Famine times - are pointed out in the area. Places where people fell and died are known as ‘Fear an Ghorta'.

Movements such as O’Connell’s Reform Movement, Davitt’s Land League and the Home Rule Movement followed this period in Irish history. The need of the people for self-determination was fulfilled gradually as tenant farmers were transformed into landowners.

The Famine was commemorated in 1997 in Mayo with the erection of a memorial at Murrisk.

* Read Tom Gillespie's County Town column in our print edition every Tuesday