Stories of the blackberry men in Portumna

THE co-existence of wealth and poverty in South Galway towns like Portumna during the famine years will be examined as part of an interesting new social history project.
The Irish Workhouse Centre in Portumna wants to preserve the workhouse’s stories and retell them to visitors. South-East Galway Irish Rural Development manager, Ursula Marmion is hoping to provide visitors to the centre with a history of the Irish workhouse on July 1 next.
Known as paupers or inmates, they were the residents of the workhouse; a part of Irish history that has left memories of dire poverty.
“They used to call them blackberry men because they ate the blackberries off the bushes. They were also known as knights of the road or itinerant workers,” explains Ms Marmion.
The concept of developing a workhouse centre explaining the history of Irish workhouses seemed outlandish initially.
“At the beginning I think they [local community] thought we were all a bit mad,” says Ms Marmion.
However, the community has rallied around this concept with almost 40 people turning up for a massive clean-up of the site.
“It was a system to gather up people who were wandering around the place, didn’t have any work or didn’t have anyone to look after them,” says local historian and author, John Joe Conwell.
“The idea was to feed them, clothe them and give them a bit of work, hence the name workhouse.
“Many people committed crimes intentionally to go to jail rather than go into a workhouse.
“You would be better fed in jail than you would in the workhouse,” Mr Conwell explains.
Ms Marmion says the goal is to tell the story of the Irish workhouse because that hasn’t been done very comprehensively.
“It’s a period of history we just choose to forget about because I suppose it is just so painful for people.”
“The workhouse sort of embodies the story of the destitute poor of that time. We still have Portumna Castle where the landlord lived, so you had two sides of the coin,” she adds.
Local landlords during famine years were required to pay for the keep of people residing in the workhouse who had a valuation of less than £4.
“As a result, the landlords moved out people, assisting immigration. It was cheaper to get assisted immigration, give them a few pounds, pay their fare,” says Mr Conwell.
The population of the town of Portumna and surrounding lands plummeted as a result of immigration and starvation during the years 1845 to 1850, when the potato blight was at its peak.
“We have records of boat loads of paupers leaving Portumna for Liverpool to sail for America,” says Conwell noting, “They were the lucky ones”.
Funding for the workhouse renovation has come from Galway Rural Development, Galway County Council, the Department of the Environment and the Heritage Council.
To date, €312,000 has been spent on the project but Ms Marmion estimates it could cost €750,000 to fully complete it.
Preservation of the seven buildings over eight acres is a labour of love for both Ms Marmion and Mr Conwell.
“We have a good team. “It’s a joy for me. I love coming to work everyday. It’s such a nice project to be working on,” she adds.
According to Mr Conwell, the centre will become an integral part of Irish descendants abroad tracing ancestry and understanding why they left.
“I am getting a lot of enquiries from people abroad who have traced their ancestry to here. We are trying to encourage people to come back and trace their ancestry and the workhouse has a role there too,” he adds.
The launch of the Irish Workhouse Centre website, irishworkhousecentre.ie on June 21 will provide the 70 million Irish diaspora with an opportunity to learn the story of the Irish workhouse, assist financially and help with ongoing preservation efforts through the Friends of the Irish Workhouse Centre programme on the website.