Stories of the Famine
Welcome to the Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield’s collection of personal stories and firsthand accounts from the Great Hunger.
In this section, we are proud to present a series of narratives that bring to life the experiences of individuals and communities from every county in Ireland during this tragic period in history. Each story has been meticulously researched and written by our own Loretto Horrigan Leary, who has delved into historical records, letters, and diaries to uncover the voices of those who endured the famine. Through these accounts, we aim to honor the memory of the millions who suffered, celebrate the resilience of the human spirit, and draw lessons for our present and future.
We invite you to explore these stories, reflect on the personal and collective struggles of the past, and join us in commemorating the enduring legacy of the Irish people.
County Cork During the Famine: Arise Ye Dead From Skibbereen, And Come to Cork To Welcome Your Queen.
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Ellen McCarthy, North Street, Skibbereen, aged 87 in July 1938.
By Loretto Horrigan Leary
August 26, 2024
When writer Joseph Sterling Coyne and illustrator William Henry Bartlett traveled the length and breadth of Ireland in the early 1840s, their words and pictures depicted a pastoral island. Their 1842 double volumes, The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland, provide a rare view into the life and folklore of the Irish before Famine reared its ugly head. After leaving Killarney, Coyne & Bartlett forsake the "uninteresting" interior road to Millstreet in North Cork and head south instead. "I began to retrace my route to Macroom," Coyne says, "highly gratified with my visit to these romantic scenes, which, had they ​
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been thrown in any other part of Europe, would have been a favorite pilgrimage for lovers of the picturesque."​
Nothing Could Be More Distressing Than The Clanking of The
Crowbars Demolishing The Cabins Mingled With The Most Pitiful and Heartrending Shrieks of The Women and Children: County Tipperary During The Irish Great Hunger.
By Loretto Horrigan Leary
July 15, 2024
County Tipperary native Edmund Butler boarded the Albania in the middle of August 1848. The young journalist left a country facing a third year of famine and foreign ridicule for a failed rebellion. Three years earlier, Daniel O’Connell, the great orator, had spoken under a banner emblazed with the accusation, “England has given us ignorance and bigotry, starvation and rags” at his October Monster Meeting in Tipperary town. “The theft of firearms rose,” according to author John Kelly in the period after O’Connell’s 1845 speech.​
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Evidently, in The Last Stage of Actual Starvation - County Kerry in The Years of The Great Hunger
By Loretto Horrigan Leary
June 1, 2024
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Mister Enright had an unpleasant job in the civil parish of Kilnaughtin, even in the best of times. His job, "burying the dead," previously allowed the deceased a final act of respect by lowering them into the grave in their own coffin. One coffin, one body, both being absorbed back into the soil that was now failing the population of County Kerry. This was an impossible feat for Enright in 1847 in Kilpaddoge, in the Barony of Iraghticonnor.
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Hundreds of Poor, Starved People Toddling Feebly Down The Street and Going Up The Dublin Road.
By Loretto Horrigan Leary
April 26, 2024
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media, and Chair of the National Famine Commemoration Committee Catherine Martin TD announced that this year's National Famine Commemoration will take place in Edgeworthstown, Co Longford, on Sunday, 19 May 2024. The town was founded by the Edgeworth family, which included the renowned novelist Maria Edgeworth. The family was involved in many charitable efforts during the famine.
Nothing but the Bones: Co. Galway in the Years of the Famine
By Loretto Horrigan Leary
March 20, 2024
When Catherine Houlihan deposited $100 into her bank account on May 10, 1854, she had lived on Ward’s Island in New York for over three years. Her parents, Owen and Ann, still resided in Drumscar, Gortanumera, just a short distance from Portumna in County Galway. By 1854, Catherine had already seen the worst effects of the Famine. In her new home in America, she would help alleviate the pain and suffering of others.
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God Alone Can See the End ~ County Leitrim During The Great Hunger
By Loretto Horrigan Leary
February 25, 2024
“In 1841, Leitrim had 155,297 people; over the next ten years, the county lost 43,400 people; by 1871, it lost a further 16,335. And the decline continued steadily until 1996 when it reached just over 25,000.”
How Mohill and Co Leitrim emerged from the Great Famine
Fiona Slevin, 2020
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