Tag Archives: Corofin Workhouse

The great-great-granddaughter of two orphan girls, who departed the Corofin Workhouse on July 5, 1851, made a 17,000 kilometre return journey home yesterday, bringing to a close a 173 year old mystery. Mary Pecker (nee Deegan) from Adelaide in Australia stood at the Corofin Workhouse yesterday morning, and looked upon the same stone façade that her ancestors looked upon the day they left Clare for Van Diemen’s Land, or modern day Tasmania. This remarkable journey was made possible thanks to the work of local historian Michael Mac Mahon and Cumann Staire is Dúchais Chora Finne, who have worked tirelessly to find out what happened to 20 orphan girls who left Corofin in 1851. Cumann Staire is Dúchais Chora Finne unveiled a heritage board at the Corofin Workhouse late last year, which included information about Ellen O’Toole, who left the Corofin Union Workhouse at 4am on the morning of July 4, 1851. Mac Mahon has worked tirelessly over the years to …

Paul Minihan gives the background on the centenary of a significant action from the Civil War in Clare FROM July 1 to 25, 1922, Corofin was the focal point of the Civil War in Clare. In 1922, the Clare Brigades of East-Clare, Mid-Clare and West-Clare formed part of the 1st Western Division, that also comprised the South-East Galway, and South-West Galway Brigades. This latter Brigade included the city. In the wake of the Treaty, the IRA slowly began to rupture throughout the spring of 1922. On the eve of the Civil War, there were two opposing 1st Western Divisions – one Pro-Treaty or ‘Free State’, under Michael Brennan, and one Anti-Treaty or ‘Republican’, under Frank Barrett, former O/C of the Mid-Clare Brigade. As the British Army withdrew from various barracks from January to May 1922, many of these were occupied by the IRA – in some cases Pro, in some cases Anti-Treaty. In Ennis, Republican troops had occupied the main …