The Irish Workhouse Museum

From left to right: Aileen O'Dowd, Mary Healy-Walshe, David Broderick, Clare Lowery, Frances Robinson, Donal Burke Last night saw the packed launch of the first ever book dedicated to a chapter of Portumna Workhouse history. Finding Ogle: The mystery of the Disappearing Master solves a century old mystery and is the debut book of Local Historian David Broderick. "In 1865 the Master of Portumna Workhouse, Henry Ogle, absconded under a shroud of mystery. It took over 150 years to finally find Ogle. Follow this fascinating story between Ogle and his nemesis, a determined missionary priest, Fr. Patrick Donnellan. The story begins in famine ravaged Ireland, explores the cruelty of the workhouse and crosses the Atlantic into the American Civil War." Original Illustration by Jenny Wood-Sullivan David became fascinated with the mystery of Henry Ogle while he was a researcher at the Irish Workhouse Centre but it has been a long road to the book lau...

Ireland's Eye, Howth by Tricia O'Neill The Irish Workhouse Centre is delighted to be hosting a photographic exhibition, The Martello Towers of Ireland, by Tricia O'Neill. The exhibition will launch on the 18th April with a talk by historian James Scully, an expert on Napoleonic fortifications. I managed to catch up with Tricia prior to the exhibition. After 20 minutes on the phone with photographer Tricia O'Neill, I realise that we should be talking about the history of Martello towers. Instead the stories come thick and fast. Did she tell me about the time an army officer had to back her car onto a small ferry because the ramp was too precarious? Or that it takes two seasoned historians to row out to Meelick Island? Or that in Boston an exhibition visitor doubted her photographs because of the beautiful light and he believed it rained in Ireland, constantly? Ireland's Eye, Howth from afar by Tricia O'Neill I soon realise that The Martello Towers ...

Two original items from Portumna workhouse, one is a child's shoe & the other a man's boo t. At the Irish Workhouse Museum we are delighted to have several specimens of pauper shoes. However shoes were viewed as a troublesome topic by workhouse management. Some workhouses ordered boot parts and had the paupers assemble them. Others bought them in ready made. Whomever supplied the shoes, it is clear that covering the feet of the poor was not a priority. In Co. Galway alone, six of the ten workhouses were in dispute with the Poor Law Commissioners in England over shoe and stocking provision. The result was newspaper descriptions like the one below: stockingless and  h is feet   were scarcely protected by wretched old shoes   (The Nation-Saturday July 30, 1864) The old pauper described in this article was alleged to be suffering from exposure due to his treatment at Portumna workhouse. A mere six months later, Rev. P. Donalan R.C.C. alleged two women nam...

I am always amazed by the sheer volume of talented artists and crafts people I get to meet as part of stocking the Workhouse Gift Shop. Just when I think I've seen everything, a new product or approach comes along and I have to resist buying one of everything! All the Falling Stones is a series of atmospheric prints by photographer Claire Loader. The prints are fixed onto wooden blocks so that the prints can be free-standing as well as wall mounted. Claire is originally from the 'other' Westport, a coastal town on the South Island of New Zealand. After meeting her husband in China, she took the plunge and moved to Ireland. That was 9 years ago and the New Zealand photographer has been enchanted with Ireland ever since. Like many visitors to Ireland, Claire has never gotten over the amount of castles and abbeys, pure history, often just sitting out in a field somewhere. Immune to steady drizzles, muddy boots and even the odd unfriendly bull, Claire has set about exp...