Famine commemoration will shine a spotlight on Cork
FROM a commemorative perspective, 2018,will see a spotlight being shone on Cork.
The county’s history is a rich one and many of Ireland’s most important stories cannot be told without due regard to the Rebel County.
A very historic occurrence and undoubtedly one of Ireland’s darkest, was An Gorta Mór between 1845 and 1852. The County of Cork this year will host the National Famine Commemoration, taking place in University College Cork on Saturday 12th May. It is anticipated that a large crowd will attend on the afternoon and more details on the event will be announced shortly.
The selecting of the college has much to do with the wonderful work undertaken by U.C.C. with regard to the history of the Famine in Ireland, and will coincide with the launch of U.C.C.’s ‘ The Great Irish Famine Online’ which has been described by U.C.C. President, Professor Patrick O’Shea noted as a ‘new digital resource of global significance’. The free site will “facilitate people across the world to explore and analyse the information pertaining to the Famine for each individual 3,000 parishes and 1,600 towns across the entire island of Ireland.
“The Great Irish Famine Online is a fascinating new resource that will make important contributions to new understandings of our past. This is one of the biggest contributions to Irish Famine knowledge, research and education. It will allow people explore this tragic event like never before, made possible by the use of modern technology.”
U.C.C. have much experience in researching the Famine and not least by way of the award winning publication ‘ The Atlas of the Great Irish Famine’, which is internationally regarded as the most original and insightful publication on this topic.
The website project is being led by Mike Murphy, Cartographer, U.C.C. and is set to be a most excellent resource.
With regard to the National Famine Commemoration, which was held in the Famine Warehouse, Ballingarry, Co. Tipperary last year, this will be the second time that the event has been held in Cork. The very first National Famine Commemoration took place in Skibbereen in 2009, and it is in Skibbereen that remembrance of the Famine will also play a prominent part in 2018.
Commencing in July 2018, the world’s largest collection of Famine-related art will be on view in the West Cork Arts Centre, on loan from Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University, Connecticut, USA. The exhibition will be on display up until October 2018 and it is an outstanding collection that really sheds a light and provides and insight into one of Ireland’s darkest times.
Visitors will be arriving in Skibbereen to see the exhibition and to visit the Skibbereen Heritage Centre and other key sites, such as Abbeystrewry graveyard. With regard to Abbeystrewry it is estimated that up to 9,000 famine victims are interred there.
A programme is being developed to accompany the exhibition, and details on the range of events will be provided in the coming weeks and months. There will also be a rich surrounding programme of events on the lead up to the National Commemoration on May 12th with events set to take place in County Hall, Coachford, Youghal and many more locations throughout the County.
The Irish Famine saw mass emigration in the 19th Century, with numbers at well over 2 million people. These Irish migrants went all over the world but in particular to America, which took in an estimated 84 per cent of all Irish emigrants between 1876 and 1921. Among these emigrants was 15-yearold Annie Moore from Cork who, on January 1st 1892, became the very first person to be registered at Ellis Island, New York. Annie subsequently married a descendent of one of Ireland’s most famous sons – Daniel O’Connell.
Family history, or genealogy, is rapidly becoming one of the biggest hobbies in many parts of the world as there is nothing like that sense of connectivity with what has gone and been before you, as a direct descendant.
For those interested in genealogy, on Saturday 24th March the Cork Genealogical Society will present a large conference titled ‘Bridging the Past and Future’, taking place at the Clayton Silverspring’s Hotel, just outside of Cork City. It will be a day-long conference (including a light lunch) that seeks to shed light on how on to go about searching for information relating to one’s Irish roots.
Experts in the field will cover a number of different topics. John Grenham will provide an overview of online research resources; Nicola Morris will talk about outrage reports, police files, intelligence reports and prisoner escapees; Margaret Jordan will be talking about ‘ Tracing your Irish Roots and finding Family through DNA’ and Jill Williams will provide information on the School’s Collection from the 1930s Irish Folklore Commission which runs to over a quarter of a million pages and is a fantastic resource.
The cost of the event is €25 and booking is essential. For further information, visit www.corkgenealogicalsociety.com.
Next week’s column will take a look at the many heritage events scheduled for April.