Free guided tour of local Famine Village

Heritage Week 2024 will feature a free guided tour of the Famine Village on Carn Hill, Killare, on Sunday next, 18 August, from 10.30am to 12.30pm, starting from the village entrance at N91 FY54.

According to local historian Seamus O’Brien, 40 per cent of the inhabitants of Killare died or emigrated between 1841 and 1851. It is believed that a number of families were evicted from Carn Hill in 1847 when Sir Richard Nagle was the landlord. The ruins of the homesteads stand as a stark reminder of the hardships and suffering endured by their inhabitants.

Tour guide Helen Lynam has visited the clachan settlement on Carn many times and has been moved by the peace of the place, despite it having witnessed the ravages of “a watershed moment in Irish history”.

Helen, daughter of the late Dessie and Tess Lynam, Rosemount, is a guide on the nearby historic Hill of Uisneach, once the seat of the High Kings of Ireland.

“This walk is about remembering and honouring the people of Carn, and the times they lived through, which enable us to be where we are today,” Helen told the Westmeath Examiner. She explained that there are features on the land at Carn that date back to the Neolithic era. “We will be looking at Neolithic times through to Penal times, as well as the Famine and the complexities of those periods,” she said.

The walk was inspired by the book Carn, Killare, A Forgotten Westmeath Famine Village by Seamus O’Brien, combined with landowner Frank Dillon’s wish that the people who lived there are never forgotten.

The walk will proceed along the original roadway to Carn Village, as documented in Seamus O’Brien’s book. In it, Seamus examines in great detail the abandoned village of Carn, in the parish of Conry.

Helen reported that there is already significant interest in the walk, which will explore the Famine era in that area and connections with the neighbouring parishes of Ballymore, Conry, and international communities. It is intended that future walks will be organised, with visits to Carn available through booking only.

Comfortable footwear is recommended. As the land is a working farm, no dogs are allowed, with the exception of guide dogs.

Booking is essential; for further details, see heritageweek.ie or phone 087 644 3742 or 087 353 2043.