# data[].attributes.headline
In the nineteenth century a number of factors combined to make the Great Famine one of greatest disasters in Irish history.

# data[].attributes.subject
In the nineteenth century a number of factors combined to make the Great Famine one of greatest disasters in Irish history.

# data[].attributes.body
The Great Famine was also known as "An Gorta Mór" or The Great Hunger.
No event in history has had such a deep, long lasting effect on Ireland and the Irish all over the world than that of the Great Irish Famine (1845-1849).

# data[].attributes.body
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%

# data[].attributes.body
- Many people lived on a diet of only potatoes.
- The Landlords who owned the land lived in England and were unaware of what was happening and how badly their tenants were being effected.
- When the potato crop failed because of blight  the people could not afford their rent and they did not have enough food.
- Tenant farmers were evicted when they could not pay their rent, then the cottiers and labourers did not have work or a place to stay either.
- Due to the poor diet of the people they got sick and caught diseases like typhus and dysentry. Many died of these diseases and many more died of starvation. It was a very dark time in Irish history.

# data[].attributes.headline
1.More than one million people died and `more than one and a half people emigrated.

# data[].attributes.subject
1.More than one million people died and `more than one and a half people emigrated.

# data[].attributes.body
Thousands of people died on their way to America and Australia. The ships they traveled on often carried only half the water needed and little or no food for the passengers. Many died from disease or hunger and the dreadful ships became known as "coffin ships".
Families were torn apart as younger members of families were encouraged to emigrate for a better life.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Dunbrody - Wexford. A restored ship from the time of the famine. 

# data[].attributes.subject
The Dunbrody - Wexford. A restored ship from the time of the famine. 

# data[].attributes.headline
2.The population of Ireland was greatly reduced as a result of the Famine.

# data[].attributes.subject
2.The population of Ireland was greatly reduced as a result of the Famine.

# data[].attributes.body
The West of Ireland was most affected. The number of native Irish speakers decreased from four million to under two million in 1851. Families were torn apart as youngers members were encouraged to emigrate to a better life.

# data[].attributes.body
Potatoes were first brought to Ireland by Sir Walter Raleigh. He discovered the Irish climate was suitable for growing potatoes.

# data[].attributes.body
The potato was a popular crop because very little soil and very little equipment to harvest.
Potatoes are nutritious and cheap and you get many potatoes from one seed potato. This is known as a high yield crop.
More than three million people would have lived on a diet of only potatoes in the 1840s.

# data[].attributes.body
The blight was a disease which affected the potato crop in 1845.
It was a fungus which was spread by wind.   It turned potatoes soft and black. Potatoes which were hit by the hit the blight turned rotten and smelled really bad.

# data[].attributes.body
In 1845 there were about 22,000 landlords. Many lived comfortably in large houses and they owned many acres of land. Some never even saw their estates/land but they lived in England. They were known as absentee landords.
They leased or rented their land to other landlords or middlemen to manage their estates. Some middlemen collected more than the rent in order to make money for themselves.

# data[].attributes.headline
3. There is a huge number of Irish descendants and Irish heritage all over the World especially America, England and Australia.

# data[].attributes.subject
3. There is a huge number of Irish descendants and Irish heritage all over the World especially America, England and Australia.

# data[].attributes.body
This is clearly visible by the great number of celebrations around the World for Saint Patrick's Day.

# data[].attributes.body
Tenant farmers rented about 10 hectares or more from a landlord. These farmers could afford to build houses with 4 or 5 rooms. They had large family but a farm this size could support and feed 12 or more.
A normal diet would be potatoes, bread , stirrabout (like porridge), butter, bacon and eggs. Problems began when these farmers started to divide their land up between their sons as they had their own families and the farm got smaller and smaller with more and more people living off the land.

# data[].attributes.body
Cottiers and labourers were the poorest people. A cottier worked for a tenant farmer. Instead of paying the cottier wages the farmer rented him a small plot of land. A hectare or less was just enough to build a very small cottage and feed a family. Half a hectare could yield (grow) enough potatoes to fee a family of four for most of the year !!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The workhouse was introduced into Ireland as part of the English Poor Law system in 1838. The British government believed it to be the most cost effective way of tackling the desperate state of poverty in Ireland. Some English politicians also believed that it would prevent the Irish destitute from swamping England.

Workhouses were not designed for Famine conditions.

By 1845, 123 workhouses had been constructed, one per district or Poor Law Union. The cost of poor relief was met by the payment of rates (a tax) by owners and occupiers of land and property in that district.

Each Poor law union was overseen by a Board of Guardians which consisted of elected members, magistrates and justices of the peace.

Conditions of entry into the workhouse were very strict and entry was seen as the last resort of a destitute person. Once inside the inmates were forced to work, food was poor, and accommodation was often cold, damp and cramped.

It was in the interests of those who funded the workhouse through taxation, to keep the numbers of inmates as low as possible.

Kinsale Workhouse Admissions Office Building
A roll call was carried out each morning.

A typical day inside an Irish workhouse was to rise at 6am, breakfast at 6.30am, work until 12noon, lunch break and then work until 6pm. Supper was served at 7pm, with lights out at 8pm.

Meals were served in a communal dining room and held in silence. Husbands, wives and children were separated as they entered the workhouse and could be punished if they attempted to speak to each other. An inmate's only possessions were his/her uniform, mattress and blanket. Once a week the inmates bathed and the men shaved.
Kinsale Workhouse Graveyard
The Famine caused a crisis in the Irish Workhouse System.

By the end of 1846 many of the workhouses were full and refusing to admit new
applicants. There was widespread shortages of bedding and clothing. Unwashed clothes of inmates who had died from fever or disease were given to the next new inmate arriving at the workhouse. There was often a shortage of coffins and burial grounds were often located close to the workhouse, sometimes next to the water supply.
Kinsale Workhouse Death Register
As panic gripped the country, and with no other options available, there was a great rush to enter the workhouse.

The road to the workhouse became known as 'cosan na marbh' or 'pathway of the dead', and over a quarter of those admitted died inside the workhouse.
Kinsale Community Hospital (formally Kinsale Workhouse)
The 1847 Soup Kitchens Act gave some relief to the workhouses. However, in the summer of the same year, the newly elected British Government declared the Famine to be over and ceased providing financial relief. The Poor Law Unions were made responsible for future relief measures. There were unable to cope and large numbers of people continued to die.

The workhouse system was abolished in the early 1920s, when Ireland gained independence from Britain.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The workhouse was introduced into Ireland as part of the English Poor Law system in 1838. The British government believed it to be the most cost effective way of tackling the desperate state of poverty in Ireland.

# data[].attributes.body
Labourers were even worse off than cottiers. They had no regular employment and often walked long distances looking for work. A wandering labourer was known as a "spailpín".