The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
GHOSTLY echoes of a dark time in Ireland’s history are still being felt in a home in Ballyvaughan, believed to be located on the site of a former workhouse. The house is part of a complex that is understood locally to comprise a dispensary, a child detention unit and workhouse proper, which opened in the mid-1800s and housed around 500 people. Resident Eilís Haden-Storrie, a journalist and author with long experience working in the North in education around the peace process, bought the property and, for a time, ran a B&B. She found that, from the start, the house attracted people with a curiosity and sensitivity about its history. “The most amazing visitors came,” she said. “The house just seemed to appeal to people with an interest in history and they would often remark on the funny energy they sensed. We also found people were able to point out the place where the original front door was located, even though …
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