Where to start with the story of our visit to Strokestown? There was so much to take in. As per the weather forecast, there was mist and drizzle as we headed eastward along the N5 to Strokestown, taking us into a new county, Roscommon. This is the home of the Famine Museum and as such tells the story of a significant part of Ireland’s history and also the blameworthy role of the English. This is definitely somewhere that should be on the itinerary of anyone touring Ireland. We arrived just after it opened and were disappointed to see that the house tours were fully booked by coach parties but it was the museum we were most interested in. In general, I am not a fan of audio guides but you definitely need one to get the full benefit of the experience. This is the third iteration of the museum, which was established in 1994; this version was only opened last year. It is excellent, telling the harrowing story in an evocative and informative way. When Jim Callery purchased the estate in 1979, from the Mahon family, who had owned it for three centuries, he discovered 55,000 documents, recording the full extent of the Mahon’s occupancy and being particularly informative about the famine years. One of the documents at Strokestown was the 1846 Cloonahee petition, signed by starving peasants begging for work and seeking action from the Strokestown District Relief Committee.

There was a significant population rise in Ireland between the 1740s and 1840s, with Roscommon seeing a 300% increase, putting a strain on resources, even before the famine took hold. By 1847, there were approximately 12,000 people living on the Strokestown estate. There was a strict hierarchical system, with Protestant ‘Ascendancy’ families owning more than 70% of the land in Ireland. Middlemen rented large tracts of land from the landowners, then sub-let to cottiers at inflated prices, with leases that gave the cottiers few rights and many were unable to pay their rents. In 1845, about a third of the population were cottiers. Spalpeens or labourers worked for the farmers, in return for the chance to grow potatoes. A labourer would eat 14lb of potatoes a day, making up 90% of his calorific intake. Most of these were Lumper potatoes, a high yielding variety but susceptible to blight. Such reliance on a single crop made it all the more catastrophic when it failed. There were failures of the potato crop across Europe at this time but the impact was softened by the availability of other crops.

The Great Hunger of the 1840s led to one million deaths and two million emigrations from Ireland, at a time when the total population was under nine million. Major Denis Mahon inherited the Strokestown estate in 1845, by which time it was £30,000 in debt. This was not unusual and many landowning families were in a similar situation. Denis Mahon did provide relief for his tenants , in the form of weekly doles of corn, this cost them a penny a pound, or in some cases was freely given. Nationwide, over three million people a month received relief in the summer of 1847. The landowners were not happy about the cost of relief; some refused to pay the poor rates, leaving workhouses without funds. The British government felt that free doles made the peasantry lazy, so road building or ditch digging was expected in return for relief. Many of the poverty stricken were too weak to undergo this work, leaving the over-full workhouses as the only option. Aided by his land agent, John Ross Mahon (no relation), Denis Mahon instigated a mass emigration scheme, as this was cheaper than keeping people in the workhouse. The least productive tenants were those who were given assisted passages.

In summer 1847, 1490 emigrants left from the 32 townlands that formed part of the Strokestown estate. The heads of household are all named outside the museum. This is very much a theme of the museum, with many individuals commemorated by name and their stories told, or words recalled. Despite Denis suggesting that they depart from Sligo, John Ross Mahon arranged for the emigrants to walk to Dublin, more than 100 miles away, then leave from there, via Liverpool. The walking route is alongside a canal. Assuming the canal was built then, why were they not allowed to travel that way? A memorial trail, The National Famine Way, now marks their route. The emigrants left on four vessels for Grosse Ile in what is now Canada, as this was cheaper than America. Half of the emigrants died on the journey or whilst in quarantine.

Secret societies, such as the Molly Malones, aimed to disrupt the system of rent, taxation and the payment of tithes. Denis Mahon was murdered in November 1847, allegedly by members of the Molly Malones. The Museum gave a very balanced picture, showing Denis as someone who did try to help his tenants to a certain extent, whilst, at the same time, he was condoning John Ross Mahon’s mass evictions. The family went to extreme lengths to get tenants to give evidence regarding the murder. Those who did so were given free passage to Canada, those who refused were refused relief or evicted. Three men were hung and one imprisoned for the crime; the alleged ring leader was last heard of in Canada but was never caught. Denis’ English son-in-law, Henry Packenham Mahon inherited Strokestown and evicted many tenants.

We hit the 30% no rain window as we finished looking round the museum, so walked round the large walled garden. Unlike the museum, which was very impressive in many ways, the garden has been sadly neglected. We also followed the Woodland Walk. As we returned to the complex, looking for refreshment, we saw that there were spaces on the 2pm house tour, so decided it was worth a leisurely refreshment break and an hour’s wait. We paid the extra few euros to take the house tour and did another quick tour of the museum while we waited. We were very glad we were able to see the house as well.

Our young and enthusiastic house guide, John, was typical of guides we’ve had elsewhere and told a lively story of Strokestown Park House and the Mahon family. I sensed a definite ‘atmosphere’ in the downstairs of the house, although we were told no ghost stories. A young American visitor also remarked how cold it was. Nicholas Mahon was born in the south of Ireland and was a mercenary solider. He was given land at Strokestown for his support of the Cromwellian plantations of Protestant English in Catholic Ireland. He rebuilt the house in 1696. It is a Palladian style edifice with seventy three rooms, designed to portray wealth and status. Later generations of the family were better at spending money than acquiring it and there were insufficient funds to support the lavish lifestyle. Maurice Mahon the first undertook several expensive building projects, including rebuilding most of Strokestown to try, unsuccessfully, to create the widest street in Europe. We did notice on our way in how ridiculously wide the main street was. Another innovation was a tunnel between the stables and servants’ quarters, so scurrying servants wouldn’t mar the view from the windows.

The last Mahon in residence was Olive Packenham Mahon, who struggled to maintain the estate. She began by selling off art work and replacing it with reproductions. When she could no longer afford reproductions she made excuses for the gaps on the walls. Latterly, she tried to run the house with just two servants and was reduced to living in one or two rooms. The old-fashioned kitchen was unworkable and plans were made for the installation of a smaller, modern kitchen. Fortunately, the old kitchen was not removed but was boxed in, with a smaller kitchen being constructed within it, thus preserving the original range and other features, which were later rediscovered. Unusually, the kitchen had a gallery, from which the lady of the house could observe the servants at work. When the property was sold, it was on the condition that Olive could live out the rest of her life there. Most of her furniture and artefacts passed to the new owner when she moved to a nursing home for the last months of her life. This meant that almost everything in the house was original to the building. Sadly, it seemed that those on coach tours had been encouraged to prioritise the house. This is definitely worth seeing and we were very glad we waited to do so but this meant that most tourists were doing a quick wander through the museum, without an audio guide and missing so much of its significance.