Famine Warhouse 1848

On 21 July, 2004 Mr. Tom Parlon, T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Finance with responsibility for the Office of Public Works performed the official opening of the Famine Warhouse 1848, Ballingarry, Co. Tipperary.

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During the Great Famine (1845-50) the

Irish self-government. He was an idealist

Warhouse was the scene of the 1848

who tried to unite landlord and tenant and

Rebellion by the Young Irelanders. The

to stage a bloodless revolution in 1848

new permanent State exhibition in the

but when he was met by the forces of the

house tells the story of the Famine and

State at Ballingarry the limits of his moral

the Rebellion, and the trial, imprisonment,

force were reached. He was just after

and penal exile of the leaders in Van

shaking hands with some of the forty-

Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania, Australia).

seven police in the house and telling them

The Rebellion is one of the best-

that all that he wanted was their guns and

documented events in Irish history and

they would be free to go, when the police

eyewitness accounts from participants –

commander ordered his men to open fire

police, rebels and the children who were

on O’Brien’s local supporters. The

in the house – have been used throughout

attempts by John O’Mahony to re-start

the exhibition.

the Rising in September 1848 at Glenbower, Ahenny and Portlaw are

The Rebellion was led by the Protestant

covered in the exhibition, as is James

aristocrat William Smith O’Brien, who was

Fintan Lalor and the 1849 movement.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern TD, described the house as ‘an important historic monument and part of our national heritage’ and acknowledged the appropriateness of it housing a permanent exhibition.

born in Dromoland Castle and was a descendant of Brian Boru. O’Brien was

After the failure of the Rising, O’Brien,

MP for County Limerick and he regarded

Thomas Francis Meagher, Terence Bellew

the horrors of the Famine and the deaths

MacManus and Patrick O’Donohoe were

of a million people as justifying his

tried for High Treason at Clonmel. They

resistance to the State. He hoped to use

were sentenced to death, which they

moral force to convince the State to grant

refused to appeal. The sentences were

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It locates the Famine Rebellion in its European context and shows how the Young Irelanders were influenced by and closely monitored the Revolutions across Europe – in France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Hungary – in 1848.

commuted to penal exile in Van Diemen’s

movement. The Young Irelanders,

purchased by the State in 1998 during

Land where the transported were joined

Charles J. Kickham (from Mullinahone)

the 150th anniversary celebrations. At

by John Mitchel, John Martin and Kevin

and John O’Leary (from Tipperary Town),

the time the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern TD,

Izod O’Doherty. O’Brien was deprived of

went on to become prominent Fenians.

described the house as ‘an important

his parliamentary seat as a convicted

Others achieved high offices abroad that

historic monument and part of our

traitor. The exhibition tells how a number

were denied to their talents in Ireland.

national heritage’ and acknowledged the

of the leaders escaped from Van Diemen’s

Charles Gavan Duffy, editor of The Nation,

appropriateness of it housing a

Land to the United States of America

became premier of the state of Victoria in

permanent exhibition. It is a substantial

where they became the leaders of the

Australia; Thomas D’Arcy McGee became

two-storey building dating from about

Famine Irish who had fled Ireland

a cabinet minister and one of the

1844; it has been the subject of an

into exile.

founders of modern Canada. Richard

extensive conservation and renovation

O’Gorman became a judge of the

project by the Office of Public Works.

Meagher who gave Ireland it’s tricolour

superior court in New York. John Blake

The Famine Warhouse 1848 is an historic

flag in 1848 (a fact commemorated at the

Dillon, who escaped to New York after the

cultural amenity and a new visitor

1848 flag monument in The Commons)

Rising, later became an MP for County

attraction with an important educational

became a Brigadier General leading the

Tipperary and the founder of the Dillon

role mid-way between Cashel and

Irish Brigade in some of the greatest

dynasty.

Kilkenny City.

battles of the American Civil War and died as acting governor of Montana.

The historian Dr Thomas McGrath, a native of Ballingarry, has written the wide-

The Kilkenny man, James Stephens, aide-

ranging historical exhibition in the house.

de-camp to William Smith O’Brien at the

It locates the Famine Rebellion in its

Famine Warhouse, escaped after the

European context and shows how the

Rising with his 1848 colleagues John

Young Irelanders were influenced by and

O’Mahony (from Ballycurkeen, Carrick-on-

closely monitored the Revolutions across

Suir) and Michael Doheny (a native of

Europe – in France, Germany, Austria,

Fethard who lived in Cashel) and with

Italy and Hungary – in 1848.

these men he founded the Fenian

The Famine Warhouse 1848 was

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