Pictured below is a 19th century relic of hard times in Co. Mayo.. The Dispensary in Ballina is all that remains of the Poor Law Union Workhouse, which was built on a nine acre site at a cost of £9400, and fittings costing a further £1980. It was a drab, grim looking building, built to house 1200 people, with little or no creature comforts provided; in fact this austerity seems to have been a deliberate part of official policy in order to deter people from entering the facility. A stigma attached itself to those who did enter, so people had to be desperate before admitting themselves.
The first inmates were received in the Ballina workhouse in November 1843, two years later, a fungus (Phytophthora infestans) attacked the potato crop and the great famine started. In December 1846, according to a contemporary report by a visiting Quaker, James H. Tuke, there were 1400 inmates admitted, two hundred in excess of the projected population figure. In fact, official figures for the time gave the number as 1496. These overflow numbers put a considerable strain on finances and available space, consequently meals were meagre, disease spread rapidly, and many inmates died in the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. It must be said however, that even though the workhouse conditions fell far short of the ideal, many people’s lives were saved who otherwise would have died of starvation.
The Ballina workhouse ceased to function in 1921 when the inmates were transferred to the Castlebar County Home (as it was then called). Some of the vacated buildings were taken over by the Freestate Army; other parts were used as a Fever Hospital. The buildings were finally demolished in the early 1930’s to make way for St. Joseph’s, a new District Hospital, opened in 1936.
Top photo, showing the Dispensary, the last remaining part of the original workhouse.
Middle photo, a commemorative plaque unveiled in 1995 by the American Ambassador, Mrs Jean Kennedy-Smith.
Bottom photo shows Free-State troops training in the workhouse grounds C. 1921-22.
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| The Dispensary of the old workhouse in Ballina. |
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| Memorial plaque to inmates. |
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| Troops, c.1921-22 |
