HSE gives green light for headstone at tragic Laois burial site

PLANS to commemorate up to 2,000 adults and children buried in former workhouse grounds in Laois have received a green light from the HSE.

A memorial headstone for a six-year-old boy and a limestone reflection seat will be installed at the old famine workhouse burial ground known as ‘Gate to Heaven’.

The tragic site is located behind the Abbeyleix Community Nursing Unit, formerly the district hospital, where the workhouse was located.

As the property is owned by the HSE, the Tonduff Cillín Committee which organised the project had to apply for permission to install memorials at the site. The HSE has agreed and it is hoped that the headstone and seat will be installed in time for Irish Famine Commemoration Day (IFCD) on Sunday 18 May.

Local historian and committee member Noel Burke said: “We have now been given the green light to carry out our plan to erect the memorial stone and limestone seat in an agreed location on the site. Project management within the HSE is really behind this overall project.” 

The memorial stone and seat will be placed beneath a beautiful oak tree, on which there is a preservation order. Lower branches will be cut to just above head height and paving will be laid in a circle around the tree, with some kerbing removed for wheelchair access. The reflection seat will face the burial plot.

The committee is liaising with Laois Heritage Officer Thomas Carolan, a HSE official and an archaeologist, who will supervise the digging of a foundation for the stone and seat close to but not on the burial ground. The archaeologist will supervise any disturbance of the soil around the location when the work begins.

It’s envisaged that staff and service users at the Abbeyeix Community Nursing Unit will visit the peaceful memorial site, to reflect and pray for the workhouse dead and their own loved ones.

Noel said: “This work will hopefully happen as quickly as possible, as the IFCD is happening on the third Sunday in May. Our parish priest, Fr Paddy Byrne, has agreed to celebrate a Mass for famine victims at this Abbeyleix location, at a time and date to be advised.” 

The project follows a generous response to a fundraiser set up by the committee on 15 March with a target of €500. Nearly €650 was donated within days. The excess will be used to plant wildflower seeds and maintain the burial ground into the future.

The memorial headstone will bear the name of John Fitzgerald (6), who died from hunger at the workhouse in May 1886 and who will now symbolise and honour all those buried at the site, most of whose names are unknown. The site continued to be used as an unofficial burial ground for decades afterwards.

John’s body was disposed of in the graveyard pit or ‘shank yard’ at the rear of the present day Abbeyleix CNU, where up to 2,000 babies, children and adults are believed to be have been buried between 1842 and 1962.

Noel said: “Unfortunately, 183 years have passed without any official recognition of the site ever having been used as a burial ground for the poor and destitute people who died in the Abbeyleix workhouse. Thankfully, this is all about to change this year.”