The Great Famine is possibly the most pivotal event/experience in modern Irish history. Its global reach and implications cannot be underestimated. In terms of mortality, it is now widely accepted that over a million people perished between the years 1845-1852 and at least one million and a quarter fled the country, the great majority to North America, some to Australia and a significant minority ((0.3 million) to British cities. Ireland had been afflicted by famine before the events of the 1840s; however the Great Famine is marked by both its absolute scale and its longevity. It is also better remembered because it was the most recent and best documented famine. This atlas comprising over fifty individual chapters and case studies will provide readers with a broad range of perspectives and relevant insights into this tragic event. The atlas begins by acknowledging the impossibility of adequately representing the Great Famine or any major world famine. Yet by exploring a number of themes from a reconstruction of pre-Famine Ireland onwards to an exploration of present-day modes of remembering; by the use of over 150 highly original computer generated parish maps of population decline, social transformation and other key themes between the census years 1841 and 1851: and through the use of poetry, contemporary paintings and accounts, illustrations and modern photography, what this atlas seeks to a achieve is a greater understanding of the event and its impact and legacy. This atlas seeks to try and bear witness to the thousands and thousands of people who died and are buried in mass Famine pits or in fields and ditches, with little or nothing to remind us of their going. The centrality of the Famine workhouse as a place of destitution is also examined in depth. Likewise the atlas seeks to represent and understand the conditions and experiences of the many thousands who emigrated from Ireland in those desperate years. Included are case studies of famine emigrants in cities such as Liverpool, Glasgow, New York and Toronto. A central concern of the atlas is to seek to understand why a famine of this scale should occur in a nineteenth-century European country, albeit a country which was subject to imperial rule. In addition, it seeks to reveal in detail the working-out and varying consequences of the Famine across the island. To this end, apart from presenting an overall island-wide picture, Famine experiences and patterns will be presented separately for the four provinces. These provincial explorations will be accompanied by intimate case studies of conditions in particular localities across the provinces. The atlas also seeks to situate the Great Irish Famine in the context of a number of world famines. To achieve these goals and understandings, the atlas includes contributions from a wide range of scholars who are experts in their fields - from the arts, folklore, geography, history, archaeology, Irish and English languages and literatures.
Atlas of the Great Irish Famine 1845-52 Editors: John Crowley, William J. Smyth, Mike Murphy Preface President Mary McAleese* Poem by Eavan Boland Introduction: John Crowley ,William J. Smyth, Mike Murphy Section 1 Ireland before and after the Great Famine (Double page spread) Chapter 1The tragedy of the Great Famine (W. J. Smyth) * Chapter 2 Mapping the people: the growth and distribution of the population (W. J. Smyth)* Case study: 1741 Famine (David Dickson)* Chapter 3 The failure of the potato and the Famine (John Feehan)* Case study: The Failure of the potato: Baunreagh, Co. Laois (John Feehan)* Case study - Pre-Famine diet (Regina Sexton)* Section II The Great Hunger Chapter 4 The longue duree - imperial Britain and colonial Ireland (W. J. Smyth)* Chapter 5 The colonial dimensions of the Great Irish Famine (David Nally)* Chapter 6 British relief measures (Peter Gray)* Box: Sir Charles Trevelyan (Peter Gray)* Chapter 7 The Operation of the Poor Law during the Famine (Christine Kinealy)* Case study: Queen Victoria and the Famine (Christine Kinealy)* Box: Burying and resurrecting the Past (John Crowley)* Chapter 8: 'The largest amount of good': Quaker relief efforts (Helen Hatton)* Chapter 9 'Born astride a grave': the geography of the dead (W. J. Smyth)* Section III The Workhouse Chapter 10 The creation of the workhouse system (W. J. Smyth) Chapter 11 Classify, Confine, Discipline and Punish - the Roscrea Union: A Microgeography of the Workhouse System during the Famine (W. J. Smyth)* Case Study: Famine and workhouse clothing (Hilary O'Kelly)* Case study: The Cork workhouse (Michelle O'Mahony)* Chapter : 12 Ulster workhouses-ideological geometry and conflict (Liz Thomas)* Case study: Lurgan/Portadown workhouse during the Famine (Gerard Mac Atasney)* Section IV Population Decline and Social Transformation Chapter 13 Mortality (Cormac O Grada)* Chapter 14 'Variations in vulnerability': understanding where and why people died (W. J. Smyth)* Chapter 15 Medical relief and the Great Famine (Laurence Geary)* Case study: Report upon the recent epidemic fever in Ireland': the evidence from Co. Cork (Laurence Geary)* Chapter 16 Emigration in the Era of the Great Famine, 1845-1855(Kerby Miller)* Chapter 17 The cities and towns of Ireland 1841-1851 (Kevin Hourihan)* Chapter 18 The roles of cities and towns before and during the Great Famine (William J. Smyth) Chapter 19 Women and the Great Irish Famine (Dympna McLoughlin)* Chapter 20 Their 'Undoubted and Most Sacred Right': The behaviour of the landed classes during the Great Irish Famine (David Butler)* Box: 'Turned out...thrown down': Evictions in the townlands of Bunkilla and Monavanshare, Donoughmore, Co. Cork (John O'Connell)* Connacht Introduction Case study: Clifden Union, Connemara, Co. Galway (Kathleen Villiers-Tuthill)* Case study: In the shadow of Sliabh an Iarann, Co. Leitrim (Gerard Mac Atasney)* Case study: The Famine in Co. Roscommon (Mary Kelly)* Case study: Ballykilcline, Co. Roscommon (Charles Orser)* Leinster Introduction Case study: Co. Meath during the Famine (Peter Connell)* Case study: Burying the Famine dead: Kilkenny Workhouse (Jonny Geber)* Case study: Co. Offaly during the Famine (Ciaran Reilly) Munster Introduction Case study: The Mizen Peninsula (Patrick Hickey)* Case study: The Famine in the County Tipperary parish of Shanrahan (William J. Smyth)* Case study: The Dingle Peninsula (Kieran Foley)* Case study: Cobh/Queenstown (Marita Foster)* Box: Visit of Queen Victoria to Cove, August 1849 (Marita Foster)* Ulster Introduction Case study The Great Famine and Religious Demography in mid-nineteenth century Ulster (Kerby A. Miller, Brian Gurrin and Liam Kennedy)* Case study: Belfast's hidden famine (Christine Kinealy* and Gerard Mac Tasney*) Case study: Mapping the Famine in Monaghan (Paddy Duffy)* Case study: The management of Famine in Donegal in the hungry forties (Jim MacLaughlin)* Section V Witnessing the Famine Chapter 21 The Famine in Gaelic manuscripts (Neil Buttimer)* Case study: James Mahony (c.1816-c.1859) (Julian Campbell)* Chapter 22 Asenath Nicholson's Famine narrative (Lorraine Chadwick)* Chapter 23 Carlyle's journey through Famine Ireland (John Crowley)* Case study: French response to the Great Famine (Grace Neville)* Section VI The Scattering Chapter 24 Exodus from Ireland - patterns of emigration (William J. Smyth) Chapter 25 Black 47' in Liverpool (Patrick Nugent and Carmen Tunney)* Box: The Fidelia (Patrick Nugent and Carmen Tunney)* Chapter 26: Glasgow, the Famine and the emergence of Glasgow Celtic (John Reid)* Case study: London's Famine burial site (Natasha Powers)* Chapter 27 Toronto and the Irish Famine Migration (Mark McGowan)* Box: Gross Ile (Mark McGowan)* Chapter 28 The Famine and New York (Anelise H. Shrout)* Box: New York's Famine memorial (Joe Lee)* Chapter 29 The Famine and Australia (Thomas Keneally)* Chapter 30 'Week after week, the eviction and the Exodus: Ireland and Moreton Bay, 1848-51 (Jennifer Harrison)* Section VII Legacy Chapter 31 The Irish Diaspora (Piaras MacEinri)* Chapter 32 Post-Famine Ireland (Willie Nolan)* Chapter 33 The Irish language (Mairead Nic Craith) Section VIII Remembering the Famine Chapter: 34 Folklore and memory (Cathal Poirteir)* Box: Na Pratai Dubha Case study: Tadhg O Murchu (1842-1928) (Cathal Poirteir)* Chapter: 35 New Sites of memory (J Crowley)* Box: Memory and Music (M. Ingoldsby)* Chapter 36 'Strokestown Park House and the National Famine Museum as a site of memory'(Terence Dooley)* Box: A Great Famine Discovery of Viking Gold: Vesnoy, Strokestown, Co. Roscommon (John Sheehan)* Chapter 37 Art and the Famine (Catherine Marshall)* Box: Remembering (Anet Hennessey)* Chapter 38 Literature and the Famine (Chris Morash)* Section IX Hunger and Famine Today Chapter 39 The Great Famine and today's Famines (Cormac O Grada)* Chapter 40 Famine, food security or food sovereignty? (Colin Sage)* Case study: Imaging Famine: Whose Hunger? (Luke Dodd)* Chapter 41 Fighting Hunger: Ireland's role (Connell Foley, Policy Director, Concern)* ENDNOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY
