Irish Agricultural Museum and Famine Exhibition
Absorbing and at times deeply affecting, this excellent museum on the grounds of Johnstown Castle illuminates how important agriculture has been to the history of this region. Exhibits are devoted to, among other things, traditional crafts, dairy farming, country furniture, and historic machinery. Of course, no farming museum in Ireland would be complete without mention of its greatest catastrophe: the Great Famine, which killed about a million people in the mid-19th century (and was responsible for the emigration of a million more). A special section puts it all into perspective in a thought-provoking way. Johnstown Castle was built in the 1400s; today it’s used as a government building, but you can wander the beautiful grounds.
Absorbing and at times deeply affecting, this excellent museum on the grounds of Johnstown Castle illuminates how important agriculture has been to the history of this region. Exhibits are devoted to, among other things, traditional crafts, dairy farming, country furniture, and historic machinery. Of course, no farming museum in Ireland would be complete without mention of its greatest catastrophe: the Great Famine, which killed about a million people in the mid-19th century (and was responsible for the emigration of a million more). A special section puts it all into perspective in a thought-provoking way. Johnstown Castle was built in the 1400s; today it’s used as a government building, but you can wander the beautiful grounds.
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