X-PO has announced the start if its winter/spring lecture series on Thursday December 4th at 8.30 p.m. with a talk entitled “The Great Hunger –Burren and Clare and Ireland”. The guest speaker is full-time Burren walk leader Tony Kirby.
The talk will cover the period of An Gorta Mór/The Great Hunger 1845-1849. The famine was the biggest peacetime tragedy in the story of the world then since The Black Death in the 1300s. It occurred in the richest, most powerful country on earth then – the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The Burren was one of the most severely affected regions in Ireland with over 85% of the people in desperate living conditions. This year 2025 is the 180th anniversary of the first year of the famine 1845.
Talk topics on the night include the causes of the famine ; the houses and villages in which the destitute lived in County Clare at the time ; the extremely rich and colourful folk traditions of these people and the post-famine Devotional Revolution of the Catholic church.
Admission is free to the event. We look forward to welcoming you to this event.
X-PO is a small social and cultural hub in Killinaboy. Seating is on a first-come first-served basis. Donations welcome on the evening.
All proceeds for the evening will go to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) in Gaza. UAWC is an NGO that empowers farmers to have sovereignty over their resources within a sustainable community-based framework.