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Workhouses in Ireland discussion

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    #32
    byhookorbycrook
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 12,481 Mod ✭✭✭✭byhookorbycrook


    I did a coursework in my final year in college on the school in Mallow workhouse (which is still used as a hospital.) I actually got to handle the minute books of the board of guardians. There was a strong emphasis on the "workhouse test" -making the place so grim that only those in the direst straits would go there.
    One story that stuck with me was that a door was left open between the women's yard and the children's area. A mother was punished for seeking out her child and had rations cut as a result.


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    #33
    PhoenixParker
    Registered Users Posts: 2,671 ✭✭✭PhoenixParker


    For those interested in workhouses generally, the book Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse is also worth a read.

    It's a follow on from the book on which the TV series is based. The author was a district nurse in 1950s East End London. Many of the elderly in the area, who she was caring for, had direct experience of the workhouse and she tells some of their stories.


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    #34
    Meso Harney
    Registered Users Posts: 78 ✭✭Meso Harney


    Another very good account of the Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow workhouse was 'From Shadow to Sunrise?' by Kevin Byrne.


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