Pay a visit to the Sligo Famine Family Memorial, Quay Street Car Park, Rathquarter, Sligo Town, and imagine the hardships that thousands of people had to endure during the potato famine in Ireland.
The Sligo Famine Family Memorial depicts a family trying to comfort each other in despair. It also features a plaque containing the words of a letter from a father to his son in America, who didn't know at the time that his son had already died. The sculpture was created by Niall Bruton to mark the 150th anniversary of the Irish Famine.
Sligo, like the rest of Ireland during the Irish Famine, was a victim of mass emigration. Between 1847 and 1851, about 30,000 people departed from Sligo Port to try and find better lives for themselves and their loved ones.
