Famine memorial to be proposed at Council

A harrowing depiction of the Irish Famine from the time.

Sinn Féin will bring a motion to Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council later this month calling for a Famine memorial in the town centre.

Deputy Group Leader Liam Mackle said: “Lurgan as a centre of linen manufacture and heavily populated was particularly badly impacted by the Great Famine from 1845-1849.

“Historians have highlighted the high death toll in the Lurgan Workhouse where, at the beginning of 1846, as many as 95 people were dying each week.

“These deaths are commemorated on a mural in Mourneview Estate.

“Many of those who died are buried in unmarked graves in Shankill Graveyard.

“After speaking to local historians we feel that it is time that there was a permanent monument to those hundreds from Lurgan who died during this period.

“On behalf of our party I intend to bring a motion to this month’s council meeting calling on council to erect such a monument in Lurgan town centre.”