Famine Shoes

These are part of the Famine Heritage Trail. I promise not to go on a rant about the use of the phrase famine, if you know, you know! So, the trail is basically a 165km walk around various locations connected to the event. Most of it runs along or nearby the banks of the Royal Canal. Starting of in Strokestown, Co. Roscommon at the National Famine Museum and finishing up at EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum at Georges Dock.

The shoes themselves are located on the Quays right beside the Famine Memorial that I posted a while ago. And so back to the shoes. The story behind them claims that they were discovered by a local farmer, in the roof of a ruined nineteenth-century cottage, whom in turn donated them to the Museum in Strokestown Park. There is no information on the owner of the shoes which were late cast in bronze and used in the famine trail. There are more heart breaking stories on the museum website. Hope to check out the Epic in the next few weeks, but that’s a story for another day.