A Canadian Wake with music and story that was held in The Percy French Hotel in Strokestown to say farewell and to mark, as in olden days, the leaving of a group emigrants.

The renowned author Marita Conlon-McKenna reflected Continue reading →

Carn hill Famine village ruins.

The National Famine Way passes through the more remote parts of Westmeath along the Royal Canal. In Famine & Community in Mullingar Poor Law Union, 1845-1849. Mud Huts and Fat Bullocks (Dublin: Irish Continue reading →

Famine walker Cathal Póirtéir

Cathal Póirtéir and Mick Blanch, Irish Famine Walk 2015.

Ballynacarrigy village in County Westmeath was devastated by the Great Hunger, as recalled in local folklore.

One of Ireland’s most renowned folklorists, Cathal Póirtéir, is the Continue reading →

From Irish Times (March 31, 2017)

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/i-feel-an-obligation-to-re-engage-and-better-understand-what-it-is-to-be-irish-1.3032147

‘I feel an obligation to re-engage and better understand what it is to be Irish’

Author Michael Collins explains why as an emigrant, a father and a writer he feels drawn to explore Continue reading →

On May 11, 2014, Taoiseach Enda Kenny unveiled a glass wall memorial to the 1490 emigrants during the National Famine Commemoration at Strokestown.

https://www.rte.ie/news/player/2014/0511/20576539-national-famine-commemoration-held-at-strokestown/

Colin McMahon has traced the 1490 orphan James Flood’s movements between Strokestown, Liverpool, Grosse Île and Continue reading →

The restored passage-boat ticket office in Ballybrannigan Harbour, near Ballymahon, in County Longford, is a striking site along the National Famine Way. Before the Great Hunger, over 40,000 passengers were carried per annum on the canal and the Continue reading →