The Great Famine Memorial - Custom House Quay, Dublin, Ireland
N 53° 20.882 W 006° 15.002
29U E 683043 N 5914512
These statues commemorate the Great Famine of the mid 19th century. During the famine approximately 1 million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland, causing the island's population to fall by between 20% and 25%.
Waymark Code: WMQXBD
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Date Posted: 04/10/2016
Views: 12
The Tourist Information Ireland website tells us:
The Famine Memorial, crafted and designed by Rowan Gillespie, and presented to the City of Dublin in 1997, commemorates the Great Famine of the mid 19th century. No event in history has had a greater effect on Ireland than that of the Great Irish Famine which lasted from 1845 until 1849. During that time more than one million men, women and children died and a further one and a half million emigrated.
The emaciated and haunting life-sized human figures stand as if walking towards the emigration ships on the Dublin Quayside.
The Docklands website adds:
'Famine' (1997) was commissioned by Norma Smurfit and presented to the City of Dublin in 1997. The sculpture is a commemorative work dedicated to those Irish people forced to emigrate during the 19th century Irish Famine. The bronze sculptures were designed and crafted by Dublin sculptor Rowan Gillespie and are located on Custom House Quay in Dublin's Docklands.
This location is a particularly appropriate and historic as one of the first voyages of the Famine period was on the 'Perserverance' which sailed from Custom House Quay on St. Patrick's Day 1846. Captain William Scott, a native of the Shetland Isles, was a veteran of the Atlantic crossing, gave up his office job in New Brunswick to take the 'Perserverance' out of Dublin. He was 74 years old. The Steerage fare on the ship was £3 and 210 passengers made the historical journey. They landed in New York on the 18th May 1846. All passengers and crew survived the journey.
In June 2007, a second series of famine sculptures by Rowan Gillespie, was unveiled by President Mary McAleese on the quayside in Toronto's Ireland Park to remember the arrival of these refugees in Canada.