Survey Data
Reg No
40805030
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Historical, Social
Previous Name
Inishowen Union Workhouse
Original Use
Graveyard/cemetery
Date
1845 - 1855
Coordinates
246695, 444545
Date Recorded
22/09/2008
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Former union workhouse graveyard on rectangular-plan, in use c. 1845 - 51, containing unmarked graves of victims of the Great Famine. Now out of use. Surrounded enclosed by whitewashed rubble stone boundary walls wall with upright rubble stones to coping. Garden to enclosure. Gateway to the south comprising a pair of roughcast rendered rubble stone gate piers (on square-plan) having pyramidal coping over surmounted by painted cross finial, and with modern gate. Signage to east pier reads ‘IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED OF HUNGER’. Located on to the north-east of the site of Inishowen Union Workhouse complex (built 1843, demolished 1958), and to the east of the former workhouse infirmary (see 40805006). Located adjacent to road to the south-west of the centre of Carndonagh. Modern commemorative stone to the south-west.
Appraisal
This sombre but well-kept former graveyard is associated with the former Inishowen Union Workhouse complex (workhouse demolished, see 40805006 for former fever hospital\infirmary). It largely contains the unmarked graves of victims of the Great Famine (1845 - 49) and acts as a poignant reminder of this traumatic event in Irish history. It is enclosed by simple but well-built rubble stone boundary walls, which are an interesting feature on the streetscape to the south of Carndonagh. Its preservation and maintenance demonstrates the local significance placed on the site, not least in providing a poignant area of reflection.