1 (Chapter 3) Why was Fiona frightened to go to the workhouse?
2 (Chapter 4) How were the children separated when they reached the workhouse?
3 (Chapter 4) What happened in the bathhouse?
4 (Chapter 4) Why do you think that their hair was cut and their clothes were burnt? (read the worksheet on diseases.)
Fact File
In 1845 so many people were dying of hunger that 123 workhouses were set up. Ennistymon workhouse in County Clare was one of these workhouses. Workhouses were meant to be unpleasant so that no one would go there unless they absolutely had to. The people there were very badly fed with Indian corn being the main food. . Workhouses did try to give a children a trade such as sewing or shoemaking so that they could earn their living afterwards.
Draw...!
Draw a picture of a workhouse.
Explore...!
Try to make a plan of the downstairs part of the Ennistymon Workhouse. Include the bathhouse, the punishment cell, the sewing room, the dining room and any other rooms mentioned.
Imagine......!
Imagine the feelings of two old people who were separated for the first time in sixty years when they were taken to the workhouse. Would they feel lonely, frightened.....Write a description of what they felt.
A child in Ennistymon died outside the gates of the workhouse. Write the story of that child and how he came to be alone and starving outside the gates of the workhouse.
