The Irish Workhouse Museum

Shorelines has taken over Portumna. The festival has once again filled the town with lots of thought-provoking, quirky, and just plain enjoyable arty-type stuff. The Irish Workhouse Centre has not been spared and we are delighted to be jam packed with delicious art in all shapes and forms. Once again we are all reminded what a great gallery space the workhouse is, and for those of you who wonder how cultural events fit in with the history of this site, here is some food for thought. The workhouse was originally meant to provide help and support to their immediate localities. They failed massively in this duty of care, but we can now readdress this balance using the same site. Heritage spots like ourselves, can and should be embedded in their local communities, providing something for everyone. Let's not keep making the mistakes of the past. Arts are the succour of the soul. The most heart-rending fact I learnt from tour guiding at the workhouse is that paupers, tho...

-Parliamentary & Civil Records- Not all records relating to Irish Workhouses were generated in-house. In fact, much of what survives today are records created by the government.  A great government record is the 1901 and 1911 Census. This census lists all the inhabitants and staff of the various workhouses. Please note that the paupers are usually listed by initials. We can also use newspapers as a surprisingly full source of information about workhouse inmates and staff alike. If you are lucky you may even find information given about a pauper's family or the conditions leading to their admittance to the workhouse. The Freeman’s Journal, 27 August 1864 for example, refers to a man named Howard, commiserating with his fate and his diet, ‘…the horrid stuff miscalled “bread”, on which he was fed was unlike anything with which the paupers were fed before’. [1] In the case of Portumna Workhouse the most useful set of records are those of the civil death registers...

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...

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...

In-house Records The workhouse system in Ireland is an often overlooked treasure trove of names, personal histories and local business names. It takes some time to find this information but it is well worth the effort. At the time of their operation, from 1840 up to the early 1920s, vast quantities of records were kept by each workhouse. These records were created by  The Board of Guardians (the group of men in each individual Poor Law Union which formed the administrative core of a workhouse), or the workhouse staff such as t he Master, Medical Officer, and Clerks.  The Board of Guardians This group of men were very interested with statistics and how their Poor Rate was being spent. To this end they discussed tenders for workhouse supplies and posts within the workhouse, salaries of staff and the suggestions of Poor Law Inspectors. From the minutes of the Board of Guardian meetings, we have a roll call of the board itself and there is evidence that the c...

August is always an exciting month for the Irish Workhouse Centre as we celebrate National Heritage Week . Running from August 18th to 26th, Heritage Week will again be a major focus here. Steve Dolan (Our current Workhouse Master) with Claire Doyle (His beautiful assistant) The aim of National Heritage Week is to preserve our folklore, ancient legends and archive the stories of our past in our minds. It is an event tailored to people of all ages and represents every facet of the Irish identity. This year, the theme of Heritage Week is ‘connections’. We encourage people to get involved and ‘make a connection’ to their heritage. Our heritage belongs to us, and it is important that we preserve and cherish it. We will host ten events over the nine days, will hold ten events off-site, and are providing nine free publications over the nine days.   No centre or museum in the county holds as many events as the Workhouse. Perhaps, some of these events might interest you......

Paw-prints in the brick floor of the Laundry House It all started with a chance sighting of animal footprints in the Laundry House. The print was not the result of dirty paws but rather a set of indentations in a brick. A colleague was quick to point out that the marks reminded him of Roman bricks and tiles. I was unfamiliar with the phenomenon but was delighted to find a whole host of examples on-line. My favourite is an example from Northumberland which dates from the 1st century. This Roman tile has three pig-trotter prints and two faint dog paw-prints. So how did the prints end up in our bricks? The secret lays in the process of brick making.  1st Century Roman Tile-Northumberland Bricks and tiles have a long history of being dried in the sun before they are baked in the ferocious heat of a kiln. This basking in the sun lets a lot of the moisture escape. This may seem like extra work when the clay could just be packed into the kiln and fired, but it is wort...