Some roads were made,but not to anywhere in particular ,it was a means of giving aid but not for nothing!
Aid must be earned ,hard work in all weathers must be done to get aid .
It was very cruel ,the roads were not really used I believe.
A book by Asenath Nicholson - Annals of the famine in Ireland -records this American lady’s efforts to alleviate the starvation ,especially in the long Winter of 1847.She arrived in Ireland in 1844.
You can drive through Ireland today ,and see in fields small low mounds ,these are the remains if the small houses” cabins “ of the poor who were evicted in the foulest weather after being made to remove the roof of their simple dwelling.
Often they crept back and all the family would return after the land agents for the absentee English landlords has gone away , cuddle up and just die.
The houses fell in on them and it is within living memory that a visitor or tourist would ask what the mounds were —- “ Oh that is the Kelly grave and that the O’Shaughnessy grave”——-
I remember our History teacher really opened our eyes .
.
Corn being exported during the famine by Lord Trevellyan to France because the Corn Laws made it very lucrative to export it.
A very sad time .
Many Irish people arrived in Manchester ,sadly at the same time the cotton workers were on strike for subsistence wages,to the poor Irish the wages seemed good,but they had not known of the truck system.
Consequently they were much disliked as the undermined the cotton operatives’ efforts to get a living wage .
The concentration of Irish immigrants was such that four Catholic Churches were built in a
very small area.
Corpus Christie ,St.Patrick’s ,St.Chad’s and St.Malachy’s .
A very interesting period in our history.
Viktoria.
