Famine Times in Swinford |
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At the back of the Vocational School in Swinford there is a large field in which alot of people were buried during the famine. It is called "The Potter's Field". There is one tombstone in the field. The tombstone is that of Dr. Michael Henry who gave help and was kind to the poor people around Swinford during the famine. He died in 1868. He asked that when he died he would be buried with these poor people. |
Swinford Workhouse 1926 |
| Swinford Workhouse was on Dublin Road where the hospital is today. Part of the front of the Workhouse is still in the building which is now known as the Fever hospital.The Workhouse was built to help the many poor people around Swinford during the years of the Famine. The Workhouse gave them food and shelter People only went to the Workhouse if they were really stuck. Conditions in the Workhouse were very harsh. Men, women and children were separated from each other. Fevers and diseases spread very quickly in the workhouse and many people died from these. |  |
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Hundreds of people died
during the Famine and were buried in a mass grave at the back of the workhouse in
Swinford. There is a plaque there today in memory of the 564 people who were buried there. They were buried without a coffin or a blessing. The same coffin was used over and over again. It had a sliding bottom. |
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