Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
At 4.30pm this evening, I met John Barron, who brought me to Monart Graveyard (outside of Enniscorthy) to show me the resting place of hundreds of people believed to have died during the Great Famine. Local folklore and history tell us that many of those who died in the Enniscorthy Union Workhouse were taken from the town and buried here, without coffin or shroud, in what appear to be a series of graves still clearly visible to the naked eye - even to this day.
While we were visiting, we met another local man, George Leech who repeated the same story, that these graves belonged to famine victims from the workhouse from Enniscorthy and they were taken out by horse and cart.
After returning home, I searched the newspaper archives. Although I have not yet found burial records confirming these burial, I did find numerous reports of deaths in the workhouse during the Famine years. One report from December 1847 records 32 deaths in the Enniscorthy Union Workhouse alone. Why the deceased may have been brought outside the town for burial remains uncertain; concerns around disease or public health may have played a role.
Standing at the site leaves you with sense of reflection and unanswered questions and yet the landscape, with its bumps and hollows - doesn’t lie and holds that memory and history. Maybe, in time, further research and archaeological work might help identify the locations of these graves and allow for the erection of a memorial to those who unnamed souls that rest here.
Text: Michael Fortune
At 4.30pm this evening, I met John Barron, who brought me to Monart Graveyard (outside of Enniscorthy) to show me the resting place of hundreds of people believed to have died during the Great Famine. Local folklore and history tell us that many of those who died in the Enniscorthy Union Workhouse were taken from the town and buried here, without coffin or shroud, in what appear to be a series of graves still clearly visible to the naked eye - even to this day.
While we were visiting, we met another local man, George Leech who repeated the same story, that these graves belonged to famine victims from the workhouse from Enniscorthy and they were taken out by horse and cart.
After returning home, I searched the newspaper archives. Although I have not yet found burial records confirming these burial, I did find numerous reports of deaths in the workhouse during the Famine years. One report from December 1847 records 32 deaths in the Enniscorthy Union Workhouse alone. Why the deceased may have been brought outside the town for burial remains uncertain; concerns around disease or public health may have played a role.
Standing at the site leaves you with sense of reflection and unanswered questions and yet the landscape, with its bumps and hollows - doesn’t lie and holds that memory and history. Maybe, in time, further research and archaeological work might help identify the locations of these graves and allow for the erection of a memorial to those who unnamed souls that rest here.
Text: Michael Fortune
