Carrick on Shannon Workhouse

Table of Contents

Carrick-on-Shannon Poor Law Union was formed on 2nd September, 1839, and covered an area of 207 square miles.

Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 23 in number, representing its 15 electoral divisions as listed below (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one)

Co. Leitrim

• Carrick-on-Shannon (2)
• Drumreilly (2)
• Drumsbambo (2)
• Drumsna
• Kiltubbrid
• Keskcarrigan (2)
• Leitrim

Co. Roscommon

• Aughrim
• Creeve
• Elphin (2)
• Gillstown (2)
• Killglass (2)
• Killukin
• Kilmore (2)
• Tumna

The population falling within the union at the 1831 census had been 66,858 with divisions ranging in size from Drumsna (population 2,947) to Elphin (7,351).

The new workhouse, built in 1840-42, was built on an 7-acre site to the east of the town. It was designed to hold 800 inmates and its construction cost £5,168 plus £1,032 for fixtures and fittings etc.

It was declared fit for the admission of paupers on 1st July 1842 and admitted its first inmates three weeks later on 21st July 1842.

POEM: Eighteen Forty-Nine

• by MJ McManus

They carved the date above the gate

‘Eighteen Forty-Nine’

When they built the workhouse on the hill

of limestone tall and fine.

The people came to drink the soup

Ladled from greasy bowls,

They died in whitewashed wards that held

A thousand Irish souls

M.J. McManus

So wrote M.J. McManus of the workhouse in Carrick on Shannon where he was born.

It was in fact built in 1841 at a cost of over £11,000 and it was unfortunately to play a big part in the life and death of the town in the following years during the Great Famine.

It was one of three workhouses built in Co. Leitrim as a result of the passing of the Poor Law Act of 1838.

The other two were at Manorhamilton and Mohill. Both these buildings have since been demolished.

Workhouse

The workhouse was built to accommodate 800 inmates.

The Poor Law Union of Carrick administered the following areas:

Co. Leitrim, the parishes of:

• Kiltoghert and Kiltubrid
• parts of Annaduff
• Drumreilly
• Mohill.

Co. Roscommon, the parishes of:

• Aughrim
• Kilmore

Portions of Parishes in Roscommon

• Ardcarne
• Clooncraff
• Creeve
• Killukin
• Killumod
• Tumna

Board of Guardians

The administration was under the control of the Board of Guardians. Half the members of this Board were made up of Justices of the Peace resident in the Union are. The other members were elected by the Union’s rate-payers and property owners. The day to day running was left in the hands of the Master, who received a salary of £50 per annum. He was assisted by the Matron who received £25 per annum. There was also a porter, a medical officer,two school teacher, a Roman Catholic chaplain, a Church of Ireland chaplain and the Clerk of the Union, who recorded and maintained the records. Carrick hospital (former workhouse)

Poor Law System

Only the destitute were meant to avail of the Poor Law system. Conditions were to be as miserable as possible. Families were not allowed to live as a single unit, husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters were all assigned different quarters. Parents were admitted to see their children on Sundays only. Despite some problems, conditions at Carrick’s workhouse in the early years were reasonable, but workhouses and the Poor Law were hopelessly inadequate to deal with the tragedy of the Famine that was just a few years away.

Small Famines

A succession of “small famines” in the early part of the 19th century had led to crop failures and eventually to what became known as the Great Famine. In 1845 blight caused partial failure to the potato crop in Co. Leitrim. There were shortages of food in the workhouse and towards the end of the year the number of deaths rose significantly. The reaction of the government to the food shortages was to repeal the Corn Laws which led to a fall in the price of home grown crops. Indian corn was imported into the country from the United States. Local Committees were set up to identify the worst hit areas and to allocate relief accordingly. Public work schemes were introduced to give employment. Many of the fine cut-stone public buildings and bridges date from these mid 1840 schemes.

1846 Complete Failure

In 1846 the blight re-appeared and there was a complete failure of the potato crop. A change in government saw the end of the relief measures introduced by the previous administration under Robert Peel. This was done so as not to interfere with what the new cabinet felt was the right of the suppliers to a “fair profit.” The task of coping with the now worsening situation in the country was in the hands of the Poor Law Unions, local voluntary relief committees and the Society of Friends also known as the Quakers.

In November 1846, William Forster of Norwich and James Tuke of York, both Quakers arrived in Carrick on Shannon. The scenes of poverty and suffering witnessed by them had a profound effect. There were 110 applicants for the workhouse, all destitute for which there were only 30 vacancies.

Starvation and disease were everywhere. Forster purchased all the bread available in the town and distributed it. Conditions in the workhouse were deplorable. There was no sanitation and clothing was scarce. Inmates were idle. Suppliers were profiteering.

Built to accommodate 800 the workhouse was trying to cope with over one thousand. 170 were in the hospital suffering with typhus and dysentery. Inmates were dying at a rate of 12 per week. There was no bedding and nothing to lie on but straw.