BELFAST CITY COUNCIL has unveiled a plaque marking the spot of the city’s last Famine grave, where more than 10,000 people were buried.
The burial ground on Donegall Road marks the site where people from the former Belfast Workhouse were laid to rest.
The workhouse was opened in 1841 and when cemeteries reached capacity, a space on the workhouse grounds was designated for burial.
The memorial plaque — which reads in part ‘They all had names’ — was mounted on Friday on a small section of the workhouse wall and gatepost that still remains at the site.
Lord Mayor of Belfast, DUP Councillor Tracy Kelly, has long campaigned for the erection of the plaque.
She said the memorial was ‘a long-overdue tribute to the thousands of men, women and children who were laid to rest here in unmarked graves’.
“For too long, this significant chapter of our city’s history remained hidden but today we ensure that those who suffered within the walls of the workhouse are finally remembered with the dignity they deserve,” she said.
“By marking this site, we are not only honouring this neglected part of Belfast’s history but providing a respectful, permanent and visible tribute to the dead.”
‘Many stories to tell’
Fellow campaigner Dr Robyn Atcheson, a social historian and history communicator based at Queen’s University Belfast, said the history of the Belfast Workhouse ‘is the history of the city itself’.
“The tens of thousands of people buried in this burial ground will finally have their resting place marked and I am honoured to have played a part in that,” she said.
“With this memorial, we are acknowledging the working poor, the sick and the hungry who passed through the workhouse as well as those who died as a result of epidemics and whose families could not afford a grave.
“This memorial is also marking the last remaining Famine grave in Belfast.
“I’d like to thank the council for their support in this memorial. The Belfast Workhouse still has many stories to tell.”
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