Learning from the dark days of famine history

Lifestyle – Judy Murphy hears about a conference which will give new insights into the Famine in Galway

Understanding Ireland’s Great Famine is the title of a conference being held in Ballinasloe’s Carlton Shearwater Hotel next weekend, June 27-29. The event will focus on new research, giving people fresh insights into the Famine of 1845-49, which was a defining moment in Irish history.

As well as hearing from experts in the Great Famine, the organisers have issued an open invitation to community groups who have an interest in the area to come along and discuss their work.

The conference is a collaboration between the School of Geography and Archaeology at NUI Galway, the Department of Heritage and Tourism at GMIT, The Heritage Officer of Galway County Council, Galway County Heritage Forum and Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University in the US.

It arose from a bid by Galway County Council to host the National Famine Commemoration Event, held last month. While they were ultimately unsuccessful in that attempt – it went to Strokestown House, home of Ireland’s Famine museum – there was such interest in the bid from Galway communities that a decision was made to host an event focusing specifically on Galway’s own Famine past. And it’s timely, according to the organisers.

“Galway has never collectively looked at its Famine heritage but there is huge interest in doing that now,” says NUIG based archaeologist Maggie Ronayne. Maggie, along with County Council Heritage Officer Marie Mannion, County Council Field Monuments Officer Christy Cunniffe and Mark McCarthy of GMIT’s Heritage Studies Department, has organised the event.

“There is great interest in the era and events of the time, exploring what went on before, during and after the Great Famine,” she adds.

Maggie is involved in a research project into the archaeology of the Famine, which is taking place in the Burren, around Ballyvaughan and Fanore in North Clare. This is a community centred scheme, she says and is throwing up some fascinating new material.

Archaeology gathers information on changes in the landscape and the impact these changes have had on people’s lives. While Ireland has a strong record on archaeology relating to ancient times, the same is not true for our more recent history.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.