We’ve been travelling in Mayo and Galway counties the last few days and the scenery has been magical. One place which will remain etched in my memory - Doolough Valley. One of the most beautiful and serene places I have seen, but the site of an unforgivable tragedy.
On a bitterly cold day in 1849 around 600 starving people gathered in Louisburgh seeking food or a ticket to get to the Westport workhouse. They were dismissed and told to apply to the Poor Law officials who were meeting the next day in Delphi 10 miles away.
Some died overnight. The rest struggled on foot across the mountains following sheep tracks and wading through streams. When they arrived in Delphi the officials refused to help and told them to go back.
No one knows how many died along the way from cold, hunger and exhaustion.
Perhaps one of the darkest moments of the Great Famine and I can’t help but feel it resonates with some current day issues.
The story and the valley moved me beyond words - almost.
‘The signing of the winds above their nameless graves forever sings their requiem.’ James Berry c 1910.
The mountains are magnificent albeit foreboding
Impossible to capture the beauty of the valley. This is a view from the Louisburgh end.
Clouds parted and spotlights of sun lit up the valley floor. It was pretty special.
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