The Famine Years In Northwest Donegal

In 1845, Templecrone Parish, in northwest Donegal, was inhabited by a population that relied almost entirely on the potato as a sole source of nourishment. The parish comprised more than 50,000 acres of bogs, lakes and boulder-strewn mountains, and its rugged coastline was defended by a string of islands that were heavily populated. The parish suffered heavy casualties from hunger, disease, stress and inclement weather from 1845 to 1849, and beginning in 1850, many of the survivors led to Canada and the United States, never to return. If not for the aid provided by the Quakers, the British Association, the Belfast Ladies Association, the local clergy, and the resident landlord, Francis Forster, there would have been few survivors. During the famine years, the British Government provided no aid to Templecrone, even though its representatives in Dublin were well aware of the tragedy taking place in the parish.