Talk on ‘harrowing’ Charleville evictions of 1847

CHARLEVILLE Heritage Society will recall the Charleville evictions of 1847 in their monthly talk on Thursday, February 15 at the E Centre, Baker’s Road, Charleville.

The speaker will be historian and author Seamus Ó Suilleabháin from Broadford, Co. Limerick.

The evictions took place on July 13, 1847 when the landlord, the Earl of Cork, instructed his agent, Daniel Leahy, to demolish the 50-plus houses that stretched from Cross Road, opposite the gate of Holy Cemetery, to the Glen River Bridge, adjacent to Main Street.

A report from the Limerick correspondent of the Limerick Examiner from the scene of the eviction gives a harrowing account of the evictions. This report will be relayed by Séamus O’Suilleabháin at his lecture on the historic event, which took place in Charleville during the worst year of An Gorta Mór, the Great Famine

Séamus Ó Suilleabháin’s brilliant book, Limerick in Crisis 1845-1849 - The Progress of Destitution, Hunger and Despair in a Rich Land, contains an account of the tragedy at Charleville. The book has been described by Dr. Ruan O’Donnell of the History Department at the University of Limerick, as a major contribution to the history of the period, and one of the most important studies of An Gorta Mór ever written.

Plans by the society are also in train to erect a suitable memorial to mark the evictions in the vicinity of where the event occurred, which has been forgotten to date locally.

The Charleville eviction incident is also recorded in the book ‘ The Land and the People of Nineteenth- Century Cork – The Rural Economy and the Land Question’, by James R. Donnelly, Jr.

The talk starts at 8pm and will be followed by the annual general meeting of the Charleville Heritage Society. The annual membership of the society is €10.

Admission on the night is €5; tea/coffee and biscuits will be available.