Laois Irish famine burial site to be honoured with a Mass for the first time

The site of a famine burial ground in Laois is about to be honoured with its first Mass, by the same committee who last year installed a memorial for unbaptised babies.

The Abbeyleix Tonduff Cillín committee are continuing their work to remember and honour the deceased in their locality who were buried without ceremony in darker times.

On Sunday, May 18 next at 7pm a special Mass will be celebrated for the first time ever at the back of the Abbeyleix community nursing unit, originally built as a famine workhouse in 1842.

Behind it, unknown numbers, estimated in the hundreds, of people were buried in a pit in the time of the Great Famine.

While another bigger famine burial site in Abbeyleix, now named the Gate to Heaven, is honoured with an annual Mass, the workhouse site has never had a Mass.

Noel Burke is again behind the project to right that wrong, and he spoke to the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

"I have read through the research by the late Martin Fennelly, who found and named the Gate to Heaven site, an overflow bural ground from the famine. It was in an area called the shankyard, basically a dump. People were dumped in a pit off a wagon, barely 12 inches under the ground. They're still there, but they have a Mass said for them.

"The one place where there isn't a Mass and should be, is in the first site behind the CNU. It's so important to recognise this date for the county of Laois. It is one of three workhouse burial sites, the others are in Donaghmore and Mountmellick. 183 years have gone by and this is the first time there will be recognition for these poor destitute people, buried as they say, without a prayer said or a tear shed," he said.

Parish priest Fr Paddy Byrne will celebrate the mass. Mr Burke has gained the cooperation of the HSE for the project as it is on their land.

"They have really gotten behind it, even to choosing the location, under an Irish oak tree with a preservation order, so it can never be cut down, and getting a contractor to put paving around it," he said.

A memorial stone and bench seat will be placed at the site. It will be also available to residents, visitors and staff of the care home, as a place of quiet reflection, and will be fully wheelchair accessible.

He has also written to Minister for Arts and Heritage Patrick Donovan, asking him to attend the new Laois commemoration next year.

"He has his own famine commemoration in Limerick, so I'm going to ask Laois councillors to support a motion inviting him to Laois in 2026," he said.

The (IFCD) the National Irish Famine Commemoration Day takes place all over Ireland on May 18, remembering the most catastrophic part of Irish history that happened between the years (1845-1852) when a million people throughout the country lost their lives as a result of the Great famine, and another million emigrated to never return.

The committee have a notice up about the event, thanking the HSE for their active participation. 

"Great care and attention was paid to the actual wording that will appear on the memorial stone remembering that many men women and children from various different religious backgrounds who suffered and died in the workhouse are now finally recognised after 183 years. The English text that will appear on the memorial stone was translated into Irish by local man Michael Martin.

"A big thank you also to the Abbeyleix community and people who donated financially for the purchase of the stone and bench seat.

"The location offered to us by the HSE on the Hospital CNU site in which to erect the stone and bench seat is fantastic in that there is a Native Irish Oak tree growing there that has a preservation order attached to it. This means that whatever developments might happen to the overall CNU site in the future, at least we now know that this famine memorial site location will remain protected forever."

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The public are asked to please try and attend the special commemoration service to show support. 

They are advised that car parking at the hospital site is limited, with some parking spaces reserved for wheelchair users.

Volunteers are asked to attend in high vis jackets to give help with car parking on the main Abbeyleix-Ballinakill road, and help find seating for anyone needing it at the Mass.