Annual An Gorta Mór/The Great Hunger Commemmoration

The National An Gorta Mór/The Great Hunger Commemoration takes place throughout Ireland on the third Sunday in May Annually.

The Clones An Gorta Mór Committee organise an Annual Commemoration which takes place on Sunday 18th May at 12 noon in the Bully Acre, Clones.

The Bully Acre is the graveyard where most of those who died in Clones Workhouse were buried. Between 1843-51 it is estimated that over 1,500 inmates from Clones Workhouse were interred there, many in mass graves, (where after death their naked bodies were transported to the graveyard by other inmates, put into a pit, covered in lime, to aid decomposition and stop the spread of disease), finally covered in soil when each pit was full. The Bully Acre carried on as a Paupers Graveyard until the Workhouse closed in the 1920’s and possibly beyond. There are no marked graves and Clones Union Workhouse records have not survived. The names of those interred in the Bully Acre have disappeared with the records but we remember them annually in the An Gorta Mór/The Great Hunger Commemoration.

This is a cross community commemoration open to everyone.

Location: BULLY ACRE, CLONES, CO. MONAGHAN. 

Time:12 noon

Parking is limited at Bully Acre. Some parking along main Scotshouse Rd.

Shuttle Bus in operation from in-front of Clones Credit Union from 11:30am.

Music; Script and Remembrance on the day.

Please bring a basket/bag of wild flowers for the children to scatter on the Bully Acre to remember all those who are buried there.

Wear comfortable footwear and dress according to the weather on the day.

Brian McDomhnaill’s Book “A Time of Desolation” – Clones Poor Law Union 1845-50 will be on sale with all proceeds and donations going towards the ongoing upkeep of the Bully Acre. 

Information and direction in many languages is up on Clones Notice Board Facebook page.  Clones Notice Board Facebook Page