Latest news with #workhouse
BBC News
19-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Dungannon Workhouse: Orphans sent to Australia remembered
On a quiet hill, overlooking the town of Dungannon, sits a memorial inscription reads: "To the memory of all those who sought shelter within these walls".Four pebbles were recently placed on top of it and the names of 21 young girls were read out was part of a remembrance service on the grounds of South Tyrone Hospital, the former site of Dungannon Workhouse. Each pebble represented 1,000 people who passed through its doors between 1842 and names belong to a group of young women from County Tyrone who were sent from the workhouse to Australia between 1848 and were part of a group that would become known as the Irish Famine Orphan Girls. A place of last resort In 1845, as poverty and starvation increased during the famine in Ireland, workhouses began to purpose was to offer succour and survival, but there was a saying that "the road to the workhouse was the road to death" - and for thousands it more than 100 years Dungannon workhouse was a place of last resort for thousands of men, women, and children who faced famine, poverty and who died in Dungannon workhouse are buried in a large-scale paupers' grave on the site close to what is now South Tyrone Hospital. On the hospital grounds there is a memorial garden in tribute to those who lived and died in the Southern Trust, which owns the land, recently refurbished the garden in preparation for a memorial event at the end of June to honour the history of the of Donaghmore Historical Society helped organise the MacGinty is chair of the said: "It is about honouring the lives of those who passed through the doors of Dungannon Workhouse and it's important to remember this is still very recent history, the workhouse only closed in 1948." 'I remember the workhouse children' Frank Shields is a member of the historical society who has memories of seeing children from Dungannon Workhouse at his in 1939 he said he remembers the young girls from the workhouse "vividly"."They wore these laced up black boots, like soldiers' boots, a grey skirts and dark coloured cardigans - they were dressed differently than everyone else."I also remember the young boys from the workhouse, they all wore these cut down grey trousers and often they had this brown paper bag with just a piece of bread in it, God help them." The Donaghmore Historical Society has also been working closely with another historical group in they have traced a number of girls who were sent from Dungannon Workhouse to were sent as part of the Earl Grey the scheme between 1848 and 1850, more than 4,000 young Irish female orphans left workhouses and were transported to Australia. The Earl Grey Scheme Earl Grey was secretary of state for the colonies and the aim of the scheme was to reduce overcrowding in workhouses and provide labour for Australia while reducing a big gender imbalance the 4,114 Irish Famine orphan girls sent to Australia, 94 were from County Tyrone and 21 of those girls came from Dungannon O'Neill lives in Melbourne and is part of the Famine Orphan Girls Commemoration Committee."The girls from Dungannon left in January during an Irish winter, spent three months on a boat and they would have arrived during an Australian summer, so it must have felt so alien to them," she said."It was a new colony so it would have been quite the frontier, many were treated with shame, but they were also very resilient and ended up raising large families and prospering."A tribute was paid to the girls during the recent memorial service on the site of the former Dungannon a traditional Irish ballad was played, the names of the young women were read out included the name of Eliza Addy. 'I'm humbly proud' Eliza Addy was born in 1834 in Dungannon and had worked as a domestic servant before entering the workhouse. When she was 16 years old she was chosen for the Earl Grey arrived in Melbourne on 10 January 1850 and would go onto work on a farm in 1854 she married and had nine children. She died in the western Victorian town of Stawell in of Eliza Addy regularly attend the annual Irish Famine Orphan Girls Commemoration in Australia. Her great, great, great granddaughter Leanne Seignior still lives in says her family have been very touched by Eliza's inclusion in the Dungannon workhouse added: "It blows my mind to think about how much she went through and survived, from the famine, to the trauma of the workhouse, then the boat trip and to arrive across the world at that age."To find the strength and resilience to keep goingm raise her family and now all these generations later to be remembered in her home country makes me incredibly humbly proud." There has also been ongoing work to uncover more information about other workhouses in mid old building of Magherafelt Workhouse still exists in the form of Mid Ulster O'Brien from the Loup Historical Society was at the memorial event for Dungannon Workhouse. Seamus is asking people to come forward with any information on the workhouse, including relics such as records books."We're particularly interested in trying to find the old bell - it's about documenting this for future generations."A new memorial stone and information board at the main entrance to the former site of Magherafelt Workhouse is due to be unveiled at a launch event on 31 July.
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Yahoo
From sleeping in cars to selling alcohol: Strange Delaware laws you may not know about
You may have heard of some strange state laws throughout the United States. In New Jersey, you can't pump your own gas. In Tennessee, password-sharing is illegal. But does Delaware have laws of its own that are like that? Below are some of Delaware's weirdest laws that you may not know exist: Once upon a time, Delawareans could not work or play sports on Sunday. Laws known as "blue laws" prohibited state citizens from "worldly employment, labor or businesses" on Sundays from 1795 to 1941. These laws may seem hard to enforce, but people still faced consequences. In 1911, 11 Arden residents, after being caught playing baseball and selling ice cream on Sunday, were sentenced to "the workhouse" for 18 hours after refusing to pay a $4 fine. More: Delaware's wild history of 'blue laws' has modern-day lessons (opinion) Now, fewer Sunday restrictions exist. But the legacy of the blue laws still somewhat lives on. Alcohol sales were banned on Sundays up until 2003. Now, alcohol can be only sold for off-premises consumption on the same day from 10 to 8 p.m. (compared with 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. the day after on other days of the week). "Adult entertainment establishments" such as bookstores and theaters that showcase "sexually oriented material" must also close on Sundays. And the state now allows limited deer, waterfowl and gamebirds hunting on Sundays, but you cannot fish with a drifting gillnet after 4 p.m. If you're making a beach trip in Delaware, you may want to change at home, as areas like Fenwick Island, Rehoboth Beach and Bethany Beach have restrictions on where you can change. At Rehoboth Beach, you aren't allowed to change in boardwalk "comfort stations" (restrooms), under the boardwalk and in vehicles at public parking spaces. Similarly, Bethany Beach doesn't let you change in comfort stations, public areas and vehicles. More: Another Delaware beach town just adopted a youth curfew Vehicle laws in particular expand beyond changing. Alongside not being allowed to change, you also cannot sleep, live, dwell, cook or use toilet facilities in vehicles while at Fenwick Island or Bethany Beach. Most people go to watch movies at indoor theaters nowadays. But if you want do things the old-fashioned way and go into a drive-theater, there's restrictions on what you can watch. Under state law, outdoor motion picture theaters showing films "not suitable for minors" are guilty of class A misdemeanor -- up to one year in prison and up to an $2,300 fine. Those films include ones rated "R" or "X" by the Motion Picture Association of America. More: Get your popcorn ready: Bear's first drive-in theater to debut in a few weeks That said, this law is a non-issue in Delaware, as the state's last operating drive-in theater closed in 2021. In Delaware, pawnbrokers – individuals who shops that loan money in exchange for items – cannot accept artificial limbs or wheelchairs. So if you happen to be selling prosthetics, don't go to a pawn shop. Yanyan Li is a news intern at Delaware Online/The News Journal. Please reach out to her at YLi1@ or @yyanyanli1 on X with any tips or story ideas. This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Strange Delaware laws you may not know about
BBC News
01-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Former Hexham Workhouse from 19th Century up for sale
A 19th Century workhouse, which has been described as a "bit of a blot", is being former Hexham Workhouse on Corbridge Road, which dates back to 1839, served as housing for the destitute until 1939 before it was made part of the old Hexham Hospital. It has stood empty for more than a Landwood said the Northumberland property, which has an asking price of more than £800,000, should "generate plenty of interest". The site is being sold following the collapse of its previous owners the 79th Group, which fell into administration amid a fraud investigation by the City of London Police. The Southport-based company has denied any wrongdoing, the Local Democracy Reporting Service building is being sold by the company's administrators councillor Derek Kennedy said he hoped a new developer would be able to make the most of the historic said the building's lack of use had been a "bit of a blot for the town"."We had high hopes for the 79th Group – we met with them on a few occasions and they laid out their plans," he said."There was some interesting proposals for housing but they never came to fruition."He said a developer could make "something spectacular" with the site. "We do like developments that use old buildings," he said. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
