The Mullingar Workhouse is one of the best preserved and most moving sites on the National Famine Way. According to Seamus O’Brien, the “Mullingar poor law union was one of the largest in the country. The union workhouse, which was situated on the northern outskirts of Mullingar, admitted its first paupers in December 1842. Designed to accommodate 800 inmates, it struggled to cope with double this number at the height of the Famine” (Carn, Killare: A Forgotten Westmeath Famine Village (Rathlainne Publications, 2000, 9).
The Mullingar workhouse is described in detail by Peter Higginbotham at:
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Mullingar/
Mullingar workhouse site, 1914.© Peter Higginbotham.
Mullingar workhouse site general view, 2000. © Peter Higginbotham.
Mullingar entrance block, 2000. © Peter Higginbotham.
Mullingar workhouse entrance and date-stone, 2000. © Peter Higginbotham.
Dr Jason King is academic coordinator for the Irish Heritage Trust. He has previously taught at NUI Galway, the University of Limerick, the Université de Montréal, Concordia University, NUI Maynooth, and NUI Cork.
He specializes in Great Irish Famine digital content:
https://nationalfamineway.ie/
http://faminearchive.nuigalway.ie/