Mountmellick - The Great Famine

The Great Famine

The population of the town declined by 35% from 4,800 to 3,120 between 1845 and 1850. A further 3000 people lived in close proximity to the town in 1841. Many of these were also affected.

Up to this time, Mountmellick had been an extensive manufacturing town, but as the famine took grip, employment plummeted and money became very scarce. Food prices increased by 300%. People caught in a poverty trap became hungry and destitute. Diseases, such as typhus and cholera took grip and more people in Mountmellick died from a fever epidemic at the time than from the famine itself.

Aid relief was sent from various parts of the world to help the starving Irish. The Quakers were among the most active in famine relief initiatives and they opened soup kitchens throughout the country.

The Poor Law Union built a workhouse in Mountmellick in 1839. The workhouse was situated, on the site where St. Vincent's Hospital now stands.

It was built to feed and accommodate 800 paupers, but at the height of famine in 1847, ("Black '47"), there were 1,500 people there. To deter people, the workhouses were as unattractive as possible. Husbands, wives and children were separated on entry and, often, they never saw each other again.

Mass burial sites were dug to bury the victims. A cart of famine victims was brought daily from the workhouse to pit graves in the townsland of Derryguile, one mile outside Mountmellick. A field, now known as "Reilig" (Gaelic for grave) in the townsland of Graigue is also known to have been a famine burial site.

At the time of the Famine Mountmellick had 8,000 people. Famous families who left during this time, or earlier, during the late 17th century, include the Newlins (who went to Chester County, Pennsylvania), Pims, Bewleys, and Dennys. Many of the earlier Quakers emigrated from Mountmellick to Pennsylvania.