This rather unassuming grey stone building was the scene of great hardship and fear in the 19th century, when it was one of around 100,000 workhouses set up to feed and house the poor during the Great Famine. Their approach was hardly altruistic, however; fearing that merely feeding people would engender a “something-for-nothing” culture in the poor, the authorities decreed that they should perform backbreaking labor in return for their bread. It’s estimated that workhouses killed around a million people in Ireland. This particular one housed about 300 inmates. The museum does a good job of describing their daily lives, as well as providing a history of the Famine in this area. One exhibit focuses particularly on a local girl, “Wee Hannah” Herrity, who lived here and survived to tell the tale—which she did, in extensive conversation with a local biographer.