Famine Pot

A plague-wind blew across the land.

Fever was in the air,

Fields were black that once were green

And death was everywhere.

The people came to drink the soup

Ladled from greasy bowls,

They died in whitewashed wards that held

A thousand Irish souls.

M. J.  Mac Manus

Milltown Development Association

June 2007.

POTA AN GHORTA – FAMINE POT

This 90 Gallon Boiler Pot was donated to our Park by the Flannery Family Milltown to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Great Famine.

Pots such as this one were used in the workhouses during the Famine (1845-48) for cooking “yalla male” and “famine soup” made from whatever was locally available to feed the starving population.

The provision of soup was often used as an enticement to desert the faith.  Hence the origin of the phrases-“He took the soup ” and ” you souper”.

Milltown Development Association Dec 1997