The Irish Workhouse Museum

Mangel Wurzel-a popular vegetable grown in Irish workhouses   For a long time, the 'work' in Irish workhouses was thought to exclude farming. However, recent research shows that many Irish workhouses had farms. Due to irregular or no account keeping, it is hard for us to piece together a picture of what farming was like in a workhouse setting. However, what we can do is look at a snap shot of figures from parliamentary documents.* These documents reveal a surprising fact. Out of the 163 workhouses across Ireland, only 37 had no land under cultivation. Over half of these 37 are from the second wave of building. Workhouse building in Ireland took place in two waves. There were the first 130 which were planned as a complete set to provide relief for 1% of the Irish population. Then the crisis resulting from potato blight led to 33 extra workhouses being hastily built. These were needed due to chronic overcrowding and it seems that acquiring farmland was the least ...

Nenagh Guardian , Examination of Kitty Madden, 27 July 1864 In light of the recent Madden Gathering at the Workhouse, we have been looking at the Maddens admitted here over the years. The most riveting case we have found revolves around Mary Madden and her mother, Kitty.  Mary Madden was born about 1834. She was paralyzed, blind and suffered from seizures.   It was reported that Kitty Madden carried on caring for her daughter until the elderly lady could no longer even take care of  herself. After admission to the workhouse, there are reports of a nother inmate in the workhouse, Judy Solon, taking care of Mary Madden on occasions. However, the story of Kitty Madden and her daughter does not end here. Kitty is mentioned in newspaper articles after appearing as a witness in a workhouse inquiry. The inquiry looked into the mistreatment of paupers and their allegations of substandard food. It was stated that t he Indian meal used in the workhouse to make br...