Irish Heritage Trust launches National Famine Way App
• Free app follows story of Strokestown’s 1,490 Famine Emigrants and geolocates along trail
• Brings the National Famine Way to life with 32 touchpoints documenting local histories and stories of the 1,490 emigrants in 1847
The Irish Heritage Trust has launched a new app for the National Famine Way, the 165km historical trail from Roscommon to Dublin, mostly along the Royal Canal. The app adds another layer to the National Famine Way experience, which also includes the National Famine Way Passport and Guide.
The National Famine Way self-guided Trail commemorates the ill-fated journey of 1,490 famine emigrants who walked from Strokestown Park to ships in Dublin in 1847, at the height of the Irish Famine.
A completion certificate is awarded at the end of the Trail at EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, Dublin. The new app is centred around one of the original famine walkers from Strokestown Park, 12-year-old Daniel Tighe, who, remarkably, survived the journey to Quebec, Canada.
Award-winning author Marita Conlon-McKenna has written vignettes reimagining Daniel’s journey in 1847. Audio recordings on the app are connected to the 32 pairs of bronze children’s shoes along the route.
The app includes videos at locations along the route by historians and academics and experts on the Great Famine, including Cathal Póirtéir, Prof Christine Kinealy (Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University, USA) and Prof Mark McGowan (University of Toronto).
Since launching the Passport official pack in 2020, the National Famine Way has garnered national and international media attention, including Condé Nast Traveller and Lonely Planet.
John O’Driscoll, general manager of the National Famine Museum at Strokestown Park, said: “There has been such enthusiasm and interest in the National Famine Way at Strokestown Park and The National Famine Museum, where participants can collect their official pack including the passport.
“We are delighted to be now launching this app, which slowly unfolds rich local history in the 165km journey and provides layers of information, from piratical to historical. We would like to thank the Dept of Rural and Community Development and Roscommon County Council for their support in part funding this project.”
To coincide with launch of the app, Jim Callery, the 86-year-old founder of the National Famine Museum and partner of the Irish Heritage Trust, has been walking the 165km trail from Strokestown Park to Dublin.
Mr Callery’s daughter Caroilin, who is walking with him, said: “While walking in recent days we have been honouring those 1,490 emigrants who were forced off the Strokestown estate in 1847 and appreciating how the National Famine Way has reclaimed the names of our Famine emigrants who were forgotten.
“As we follow in their footsteps 174 years later, the new National Famine Way App with its rich content certainly deepens this poignant experience and helps one fully appreciate the historical significance and the natural beauty of this trail.
The app
The app is available on Apple and Android stores. For more information, see nationalfamineway.ie and strokestownpark.ie/famine/walk/.
‘#Missing1490’
In May of 1847, the worst year of the Famine, 1,490 people from Strokestown walked 165km to Dublin for transport to Liverpool. There they boarded some of the worst ‘coffin ships’, on a nightmare journey to Quebec, Canada – but only half arrived.
The walkers, who subsequently became known as the ‘Missing 1,490’, were tenants of local landlord, Major Denis Mahon, who offered them a grim choice of emigration (through “assisted passage”), starvation on their blighted potato patch farms or, the workhouse.
The story of the #Missing1490 has led to a research programme by the University of Toronto, following family threads in America and Canada.
National Famine Way
The National Famine Way is an accredited 165km Heritage and Arts Trail from Strokestown Park, County Roscommon through six counties to Dublin, mostly along the Royal Canal.
With its captivating layers of history and culture, the trail is designed to be accessible for families, schools, casual walkers and cyclists, through to famine and historical enthusiasts.
It offers a safe, recreational option available 365 days a year in a self-guided and paced format with signposting and trailheads along the route. The official cycling paths finish at the end of the Royal Canal Greenway in Maynooth. The section from Maynooth to Dublin has stretches that are not suitable for cycling.
The National Famine Way is an integrated County collaboration between The Irish Heritage Trust, The National Famine Museum at Strokestown Park, Waterways Ireland and the seven County Councils from Roscommon to Dublin.
Strokestown Park and the National Famine Museum
Archival documents discovered in Strokestown Park House reveal that 1,490 men women and children were ‘walked’ under the close surveillance of the Mahon estate bailiff John Robinson along the canal towpaths, from Strokestown to the Quays in Dublin and then on to Liverpool, where they boarded four different ships for the perilous voyage to Quebec.
The new National Famine Museum will open at Strokestown Park in 2022. Funded by Fáilte Ireland and Westward Holdings Ltd, in partnership with the Irish Heritage Trust, the museum will showcase material from the archive and will interpret the story of the Great Irish Famine in Ireland for a whole new generation of visitors and researchers.
Since 2015, Strokestown Park House and The National Famine Museum has been cared for and managed by the Irish Heritage Trust, an independent not-for profit organisation. irishheritagetrust.ie.