Drogheda Before the Famine : Urban Poverty in the Shadow of Privilege 1826-45 Book

This work makes some contribution towards filling the gaping void that exists in our knowledge of the urban history of early nineteenth-century Ireland. At a time when much research is underway on the Great Famine itself, it provides an insight into the condition of the urban poor on the eve of that catastrophe, and how ill prepared they were to withstand it. It breaks new ground in getting to grips with what life was really like in the town of Drogheda during the two decades preceding the Famine, in an expose of a community where extremes of poverty and privilege were apparently largely accepted. Work, poverty, welfare institutions and the social hierarchy all come in for scrutiny. The exploration encompasses community responses during poverty and subsistence crises and tackles some pertinent questions in relation to the mind-sets and inter-relationships of the different social strata.