Our next monthly meeting will take place at 7:30pm in the Observatory Library. Our speaker this month is Dr Dónal McAnallen, who will be discussing:

Causes and effects of the Great Famine on the Powerscourt estate (Benburb-Eglish-Moy district)

This talk will shed new light on the causes and traumatic effects of the Great Famine on the Powerscourt Estate, County Tyrone, which comprised much of Clonfeacle civil parish – with Benburb as its headquarters, and stretching from the outskirts of the Moy to present-day Eglish village and the edge of the Brantry.

Based on fresh research of estate records, this talk will analyse the profound agrarian and sectarian tensions in the years preceding 1845. It will outline personal stories of hunger and want among the populace, and the response of officials of the estate, then overseen by the Earl of Roden, as well as local famine relief bodies. Comparisons will also be made with neighbouring estates, such as Charlemont and Caledon.

This talk will cover the period up to ‘Black ‘47’. The second instalment, to follow on 11th June, will account for the remainder of the period up to 1852.

Please note that this month’s talk will start at the later time of 7:30pm.