A famine memorial to 400 souls

The 25km Doolagh Pass is one of the most dramatic landscapes in Ireland and the scene of one of its great tragedies. In 1849 during the Great Hunger, 600 starving souls set out from Louisburg to Delhi Lodge to ask their landlord, The Marquess of Sligo for food. The weather was bleak and freezing and the people were refused rations resulting in 400 of them dying of starvation. There were reports that dead corpses were scattered all along the pass many of which had grass in their mouths. Two memorials marked the spot where the disaster happened. The plain stone cross is engraved with the words ‘Doolough Tragedy 1849’ and the ‘Famine Walk Memorial’ is engraved with quotes from both Gandhi and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A walk is held along this route each year in memory of the dead and to highlight starvation that still exists in the world today.