Delphi Lodge, Connemara Ireland – now a luxury hotel

On March 30, 1849 (4 years into the Famine), two relief officials (Colonel Hogrove and Captain Primrose) came to the town of Louisburgh in County Mayo to ‘inspect’ (i.e., certify) those receiving outdoor relief (such relief did not include shelter, only limited food in exchange for manual labor).   Hundreds of the starving and destitute had traveled great distances to Louisburgh for this ‘inspection’; it never took place.  Instead, the two officials left for the Delphi hunting lodge about 14 miles away!  Those who’d gathered in the hopes of continuing to receive the meager aid to which they were entitled were told to walk along the snowy mountain trails to Delphi Lodge and to be there by 7:00 the next morning or else they would be ‘struck off the relief’*.   Hundreds of ‘living skeletons’* made the forced march, some dying along the way and many thereafter.   Arriving by 7:00 the following morning, the exhausted victims waited until noon (the officials were lunching) when they were duly ‘inspected’.   They were then left to make their way back to their homes, some traveling in excess of 20 miles as they did not live in Louisburgh.

Imagine, if you will, what went through the mind of Catherine Dillon as she struggled through the cold mountain path toward Delphi with her son, Pat, and daughter, Honora.  Catherine had traveled 2.5 miles to Louisburgh the morning of the 30th in the hopes of receiving a bit of meal in exchange for her labors.  Instead, she was told she and her family had to walk an additional 14 miles to Delphi.  Wearing probably the flimsiest of clothing (as outdoor relief workers were not provided with clothing), debilitated by 4 years of hunger, she sets off only to die midway through her last agonizing journey in this world.  The bodies of all three Dillon’s were left exposed on the road for three days and nights for ‘the dogs and the ravens to feed upon’* (as set forth in a prior posting, outdoor relief workers were not provided with coffins when they died).  Catherine Dillon eventually received a Christian burial when the local priest, Thomas O’Dowd, stepped in and provided coffins for the dead.

A  memorial march is held annually to commemorate this forced march.  It is generally referred to as the Doolough March as most died on the shores of Doolough Lake.  Although the exact number of those who perished on the forced march to Delphi Lodge will probably never be known, local sources put the number in the dozens.

*  see letters to the Mayo Constitution dated April 5, 1849 and April 13, 1849.