Famine Graveyard
Glenties, County Donegal, Ireland
This graveyard is now out of use. It has stone boundary walls with rubble stone coping. There is a modern carved limestone Celtic high cross-type memorial at the site (erected in 1997) having a canted plinth with shaft and cross head over with Celtic interlacing motifs. Inscription in old Gaelic script to base. The cross set in a modern rubble stone enclosure.
The graveyard is located on a sloping site to the north of the site of the former Glenties Union Workhouse (demolished around 1960, closed 1958). St. Columba's Comprehensive School was built on the site of the former workhouse and hospital. The entire site lies just to the northwest of the centre of Glenties.
Located directly behind the Ard Patrick housing estate. To enter the graveyard, one must drive up or walk, into the housing estate and there you will find the entrance to the graveyard in a gap between the first earlier phase of houses built and the new houses (which have a porch). Walk through the gap and you will see the Celtic Cross which marks the site.
During the time of the Great Famine, this Workhouse was a very important place in Glenties. The Famine was due to the failure of the potato crop, by a fungal disease called "Blight". At that time the main food taken was potatoes, and bread if the flour was available. This also became a problem as the flour got scarce.
In 1847 the famine had got so bad and that there were men roaming the countryside begging for food. The "Workhouse" became so overcrowded, which made the living conditions dreadful, causing fever to spread rapidly. There was no ventilation, no food, not enough straw to make beds on the floor, and because the Workhouse was built on the low ground it sometimes used to flood, causing a dreadful smell. This led to the death rate at Glenties Workhouse being one of the highest in the country. When the Workhouse inmates died they were buried in this Famine Graveyard.
Glenties Union Workhouse was originally built to standard designs by George Wilkinson between 1843-5 at a cost of £5,100 for the buildings and £940 for the fittings. It was designed to accommodate 500 inmates and first admissions took place on the 24th of July 1846. It was built on a site provided by the 2nd Marquis Conyngham, Francis Nathaniel Conyngham (1797-1876), the proprietor of the town of Glenties and the owner of vast estates in Donegal at the time of erection. Although designed to accommodate 500, the Workhouse was grossly overcrowded during the famine with outbreaks of dysentery and other fevers common leading to one of the highest death rates for any Workhouse in Ireland. It is likely that many thousands are buried in this graveyard. After Independence, in 1922, the Workhouse was modified for use as a hospital (St. Patrick's District Hospital), and remained in use as such until 1958. Part of the facility was in use as a sanatorium in the 1950s under Dr Noel Browne's TB scheme. The hospital and former Workhouse was later demolished and Glenties Comprehensive School built on the site in 1968.
This graveyard is now out of use. It has stone boundary walls with rubble stone coping. There is a modern carved limestone Celtic high cross-type memorial at the site (erected in 1997) having a canted plinth with shaft and cross head over with Celtic interlacing motifs. Inscription in old Gaelic script to base. The cross set in a modern rubble stone enclosure.
The graveyard is located on a sloping site to the north of the site of the former Glenties Union Workhouse (demolished around 1960, closed 1958). St. Columba's Comprehensive School was built on the site of the former workhouse and hospital. The entire site lies just to the northwest of the centre of Glenties.
Located directly behind the Ard Patrick housing estate. To enter the graveyard, one must drive up or walk, into the housing estate and there you will find the entrance to the graveyard in a gap between the first earlier phase of houses built and the new houses (which have a porch). Walk through the gap and you will see the Celtic Cross which marks the site.
During the time of the Great Famine, this Workhouse was a very important place in Glenties. The Famine was due to the failure of the potato crop, by a fungal disease called "Blight". At that time the main food taken was potatoes, and bread if the flour was available. This also became a problem as the flour got scarce.
In 1847 the famine had got so bad and that there were men roaming the countryside begging for food. The "Workhouse" became so overcrowded, which made the living conditions dreadful, causing fever to spread rapidly. There was no ventilation, no food, not enough straw to make beds on the floor, and because the Workhouse was built on the low ground it sometimes used to flood, causing a dreadful smell. This led to the death rate at Glenties Workhouse being one of the highest in the country. When the Workhouse inmates died they were buried in this Famine Graveyard.
Glenties Union Workhouse was originally built to standard designs by George Wilkinson between 1843-5 at a cost of £5,100 for the buildings and £940 for the fittings. It was designed to accommodate 500 inmates and first admissions took place on the 24th of July 1846. It was built on a site provided by the 2nd Marquis Conyngham, Francis Nathaniel Conyngham (1797-1876), the proprietor of the town of Glenties and the owner of vast estates in Donegal at the time of erection. Although designed to accommodate 500, the Workhouse was grossly overcrowded during the famine with outbreaks of dysentery and other fevers common leading to one of the highest death rates for any Workhouse in Ireland. It is likely that many thousands are buried in this graveyard. After Independence, in 1922, the Workhouse was modified for use as a hospital (St. Patrick's District Hospital), and remained in use as such until 1958. Part of the facility was in use as a sanatorium in the 1950s under Dr Noel Browne's TB scheme. The hospital and former Workhouse was later demolished and Glenties Comprehensive School built on the site in 1968.
Nearby cemeteries
Glenties, County Donegal, Ireland
- Total memorials13
- Percent photographed8%
- Percent with GPS0%
Glenties, County Donegal, Ireland
- Total memorials452
- Percent photographed88%
- Percent with GPS13%
Glenties, County Donegal, Ireland
- Total memorials183
- Percent photographed15%
- Percent with GPS22%
- Added: 10 Jun 2021
- Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2732316
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