Corn, Gunpowder & Class Conflict | The Famine in Clogheen I

Focusing on the town of Clogheen in South Tipperary, this two part episode follows the lives of three individuals Robert Davis, David Keane and Richard Burke. Their stories delve into the fascinating yet often violent struggle for survival in Ireland during the Great Famine. While the show focuses on Clogheen the accounts are reflective of wider experiences.

The podcasts also examines controversial topics such as the export of food and the violent resistence to those exports. I also reveal stories of those who profited during the famine and try to answer why many Irish people who seemed like decent people continued to export food in the midst of the famine.

The show includes dozens of primary sources including two previously unpublished letters written from Clogheen and Boston giving a first hand perspective of what life for Irish people was like in the 1840s. I would like to thank Ted Reilly and Martin Nutty for their help in New York without whom this episode would not have been possible.

Credits:

Aidan Crowe read David Keane’s Letters

Maurcie Casey narrated Robert Davis’s report

Mark O’Dwyer voiced the words of James Fraser and Ferguson the pawnbroke