GALLERY 2008

Doagh Famine Village

A look back at Irish History. The outdoor museum tells the story of life in the Doagh area in the 1970s going back to the Famine in the 1840s. The Village is situated on Doagh Island Inishowen Co Donegal. Photographs taken last week in August 2008.

		View from Famine Village Doagh Island, once an island some 6000 years ago, now a peninsula separating Trawbreaga Bay from the Atlantic Ocean
		Famine Village Some of these houses were lived in until the 1990s
		Thatched Cottage
		House containing tools and household utensils
		The Mass Rock represents the most common nationalistic image of the eighteenth century Penal Law - the Catholic Priest saying mass in secret and hunted by the British Military - The Red Coats
		Eviction Scene Landlords evicted the poorest of families from their homes for being unable to pay the taxation during the Famine when they had no means of income.
		The Hedge School - Most children - both Catholic and Protestant - who received education in the 18th century received it from The Hedge School. Under Penal Law Catholics could not run schools - but this did not stop them. Many Hedge school teachers may have taught through Irish but they would have been employed for their ability to teach the classics, arithmetic and English. The ability to speak English was becoming a status symbol.
		Digging Potatoes In rural Ireland people were dependent on potatoes for food
		Famine Grave
		Landlord's Estate Some Landlords lived in luxury while their tenants starved
		Room in Republican Safe House
		Names of the 3722 Lives Lost In Northern Ireland's troubled 30 years