The Famine mass graves at Abbeystrowry Graveyard in Skibbereen are one of the most poignant Famine sites in Ireland. The ‘pits’, as they were known contemporaneously, are the final resting place of up to 10,000 victims of Ireland’s Great Hunger.

Click here to see a short film which gives the background of these mass graves and explains how they were used, with the infamous ‘death cart’ bringing the dead to the pits. We also hear about the boy who was buried alive during the Great Famine who, thankfully, lived to tell the tale.

And you can read about it here too.