On Monday, 27th January 2020, the 6-acre Carrickmacross Workhouse site, including its Famine Graves, returned to community ownership when they were purchased by Monaghan Co. Council.
Built in 1841, the first families were admitted to the Workhouse on 11th February 1843 – almost 177 years ago to the day.
Since this time, the buildings and site passed into private ownership, while a local group, Farney Community Development Group, took a long-term lease and restored the front building into a Community Heritage, Training and Resource Centre.
We sincerely thank Monaghan County Council, in particular our Carrickmacross and Castleblayney Municipal District Councillors, for securing €540,000 funding to purchase this historic site in order to protect and develop it into the future.
Special tribute is due to the hundreds of people, past and present, who supported the Workhouse over the past 20 years, and those who worked behind the scenes to return it to its rightful owners – our community.
The full story can be read in this week’s Northern Standard, 30th January, and the photograph is courtesy of the Standard’s photographer, Pat Byrne.
