The workhouse was where stories of kindness and cruelty played out side by side. The show includes an testimony from Michael Doody, an inmate in Clogheen Workhouse in 1848 which is a fascinating first hand account of life inside this building.

Overall workhouses had a huge impact in every community across Ireland during the late 1840s. The shocking statistic that one in three people who perished in the Famine (over 300,000 people) died in workhouses highlights their importance in the story of the Great Hunger. Richard Burke’s experiences in Clogheen give us a greater understanding of why they were so important not only in this town but across ireland.

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