About

This project represents a productive collaboration between many organisations. Our aim is to promote the wonderful house and collections at Strokestown Park and to bring benefit to the house and local community through our activities. Strokestown Park is an Irish Heritage Trust Property, an independent not-for-profit organisation which is bringing historic properties to life www.irishheritagetrust.ie.

Project Partners

The project is led by Strokestown Park House & The National Famine Museum and the Irish Heritage Trust in collaboration with the Adapt Centre, Trinity College Dublin. Much labour in kind, and the unique and important documents from the Strokestown Famine Archive have been shared by Strokestown Park House, the Irish Heritage Trust and Trinity College Dublin.

Strokestown Park House and the National Famine Museum

Strokestown Park is a unique visitor attraction in Strokestown, Co Roscommon in The West of Ireland comprising of Strokestown Park House, a Georgian Palladian mansion preserved with its original furnishings and fabrics. The House was the family home of the Pakenham Mahon family and is built on the site of the 16th-century castle, home of The O Conor Roe Gaelic Chieftains. The Landlord Major Denis Mahon was assassinated in November 1847 at the height of The Great Famine of Ireland and it is fitting that The National Famine Museum was established at Strokestown Park in 1994 using the unique original documents which came to light during the restoration of the House.

The Irish Heritage Trust

The Irish Heritage Trust cares for and brings to life a variety of historic houses, gardens and parklands in Ireland, while developing innovative visitor experiences at these beautiful places: Fota House & Gardens (Cork); Johnstown Castle Estate, Museum & Gardens (Wexford); and Strokestown Park & The National Famine Museum (Roscommon). The Trust is bringing benefit to local communities and businesses through tourism, employment and a successful volunteering programme. It aims to achieve financial sustainability at these properties so that they prosper for current and future generations. Environmental sustainability is a core objective, including the protection and enhancement of our natural heritage across all properties.

The ADAPT Centre

ADAPT is a dynamic research centre that combines the world-class expertise of researchers at four universities (Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, University College Dublin and Dublin Institute of Technology) with that of its industry partners to produce ground-breaking digital content innovations.

Trinity College Dublin

Trinity College Dublin, founded in 1592, is Ireland’s oldest university. It is recognized today for academic excellence and a transformative student experience. With a tradition of scholarship spanning more than four centuries, Trinity is home to talented and inquiring minds, a liberal education, and research conducted at the frontiers of disciplines.

Science Foundation Ireland

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) is the national foundation for investment in scientific and engineering research. SFI invests in academic researchers and research teams who are most likely to generate new knowledge, leading edge technologies and competitive enterprises in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). It provides funding for the ADAPT Centre.

The Foundation also promotes and supports the study of, education in, and engagement with STEM and promotes an awareness and understanding of the value of STEM to society and, in particular, to the growth of the economy.

Waterways Ireland

Waterways Ireland manages, maintains, develops and promotes over 1,000km inland navigable waterways principally for recreational purposes. The waterways under the remit of the body are the Barrow Navigation, the Erne System, the Grand Canal, the Lower Bann, the Royal Canal, the Shannon-Erne Waterway and the Shannon Navigation.

The Royal Canal Amenity Group

The Royal Canal Amenity Group (RCAG) is a voluntary organisation formed in 1974 for the purpose of restoring Ireland’s Royal Canal in addition to developing and promoting the waterway and its towpath as a linear parkway. Its core objective is to promote recreation, heritage, education, and tourism along Irelands 145 Km liner parkway that is the Royal Canal.

Roscommon County Council

Roscommon County Council is the primary unit of Local Government in the county and was established in 1899 following the enactment of the Local Government (Ireland) Act in 1898. It provides a variety of services ranging from the management of social housing to those of a recreational nature such as libraries and the arts.

Strokestown Community Development Association

Strokestown Community Development Association provides a unique a unique holistic approach to managing a town. It brings together all of the unique groups and stakeholders in Strokestown to work together with a common and mutually beneficial goal.

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum: EPIC tells the dramatic story of the people who have left the island of Ireland, how these people spread around the globe, and how they influenced and shaped the world.

Ireland Park Foundation

Ireland Park Foundation is dedicated to celebrating the story of the Irish in Canada. It creates and maintains commemorative public spaces and engages academics to produce unique research on the history and contribution of Irish migrants and their descendants to Canada.

Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute, Quinnipiac University

Through a program of lectures, conferences, courses, and publications, Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute offers a deeper understanding of the causes and consequences of the Irish Famine, also known as “An Gorta Mor.”

Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum, Quinnipiac University

The mission of Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University is to collect, preserve, exhibit and study its collection of art, artifacts and literature relating to the Irish Famine/Great Hunger that occurred from 1845–52.