On the outskirts of Cork City, a new chapter for a long overlooked famine graveyard
"Today marks a new opportunity to honour our ancestors who died in an Gorta Mór, the Great Famine," Lord Mayor Deirdre Forde said at a speech in the graveyard where thousands are buried.
Under a searing midday sun, as traffic roared by on Carrigaline Road, a small crowd gathered at the gates to All Saints Cemetery. They were here to remember the countless thousands who are buried in a mass grave that was opened during the famine and used to bury the city’s "paupers" right up until at least the 1940s.
In fact, Pat Gunn, Chair of the Cork City and County Famine Group, recounted how even in the 1940s, school children in Douglas would be quieted during yard time as a mark of respect when a passing coffin made its way from St. Finbarr's Hospital up Carr's Hill to 'The Pauper's Graveyard' as it is known locally.
To this day, nobody knows exactly how many thousands are buried in the three-acre site between Douglas and Carrigaline. Pat said that in the span of a few months, between February and June 1847, 2,260 famine victims from the workhouse on Douglas Road (now St. Finbarr's Hospital) were interred in the famine plot. Estimates put the number of dead buried here between 20,000 and 30,000.
Carr's Hill famine graveyard was opened in 1847 as bodies piled up in St Joseph's Cemetery in Turners Cross. According to reports from the time, 10,000 bodies were buried in the first nine months of 1847 in St Joseph's Cemetery in Turners Cross. The city's graveyards were filling up, and locals banded together to prevent more burials. Enter George Carr, who tendered for a workhouse graveyard on the site now known as Carr's Hill. Carr also won a contract to bury the workhouse dead.
That the famine graveyard is remembered at all is largely thanks to the committee members and the work of Jack Sorensen, a taxi driver from Albert Road who assembled a 54-foot crucifix in his side yard and erected it on the grounds of the site in 1958. A light used to flicker at night at the peak of the cross, a reminder of the bygone tragedy, but it had to be turned off owing to the proximity of the site to Cork Airport.
Today's ceremony marked the handing over of the burial site from the HSE to Cork City Council. The land around the site fell under the purview of the City Council with the boundary extension of 2019.
On the short walk up from the main road to where the crucifix stands tall, committee members talked about reaching this point and how they hope that under the guardianship of the City Council, more will be done to commemorate the thousands of dead buried here. They also expressed their desire for the people of Cork to learn more about this significant yet overlooked site.
Cllr Deirdre Forde, the Lord Mayor of Cork, said as much in a short but poignant speech before a small crowd gathered in the graveyard just metres away from the 50-foot crucifix.
"Today, we are here to witness the handover of such an evocative site from the HSE to Cork City Council. It's a great day for Cork City Council, it's a great day for the parish."
The Lord Mayor emphasised that commemorative monuments to the famine can be found throughout the world, "demonstrating the enormous impact of the famine and the influence of the Irish people."
"Here, closer to home, we remember the thousands of Cork people who died during the famine and are buried here in Carr's Hill."
Cllr Forde specifically mentioned the late Jack (Bill) Sorensen, saying that if he were alive today, he would receive the highest recognition for his vision and generosity of spirit in building and erecting the commemorative cross.
She also thanked Pat Gunn and Brian Bermingham, as well as all the members of the famine committee, along with her fellow councillor Mick Finn, for keeping the memory of the site alive "when very few people were paying attention to it."
As Cllr Forde enters the final few days of her tenure as the City's Lord Mayor, she said she looked forward to seeing the plans the City Council has for “maintaining, interpreting, and honouring this significant site in conjunction with the people here.”
"Today marks a new opportunity to honour our ancestors who died in an Gorta Mór, the Great Famine, and to remember that many of the people who died here still have living relatives."
Cllr Mick Finn told T+D that as Lord Mayor in 2019, when the city boundaries were extended, he requested that the famine cemetery be taken on by the City Council.
"It's great to see this finally get over the line," Cllr Finn said, adding that now that it has been transferred, we can begin to “look at an ambitious and respectful development project to honour the site and all those buried there from Famine times”.
"Anywhere else in the world, this would be a central repository for national and international visitors, and in places like Sydney and New York, Irish communities have fundraised and worked hard to develop Famine Commemoration sites of significance.”
It is imperative that we do so in our own city and county, as the provenance of the Carr's Hill cemetery cannot be overestimated or overvalued."
Cllr Finn has tabled a motion seeking a "balanced development of the site into a national place of remembrance and reflection over the next few years, including the installation of significant educational elements."
While there was significant opposition to the M28 Cork to Ringaskiddy which will pass nearby the famine plot, the new road could, as Cllr Finn pointed out, offer an opportunity to provide better access and improved parking to the famine graveyard.
"This is a giant step towards preserving and valuing a hugely important site," Cllr Finn said.