The Famine is remembered where it struck and where its emigrants landed. Here are 27 memorials in 7 countries, from a boulder in Montreal in 1859 to a cross on Deer Island in 2019.
Ireland · 10
Famine (Famine Memorial) · Custom House Quay, Dublin · Dublin · 1997 · Rowan Gillespie Six tall bronze figures walking towards a ship at the docks, carrying the little they had; presented to the city of Dublin in 1997.Map ↗
Famine, St Stephen's Green · St Stephen's Green, Dublin · Dublin · year not given · Edward Delaney Delaney's famine memorial stands at the north-eastern corner of the Green. His article dates the Wolfe Tone statue beside it to 1967 but its wording leaves the memorial's own year unclear, so none is given here.
Kindred Spirits · Bailick Park, Midleton · Cork · 2017 · Alex Pentek Nine stainless-steel eagle feathers forming an empty bowl, marking the Choctaw people's 1847 gift to famine relief; installed in 2015 and dedicated in June 2017.Map ↗
Galway Famine Ship Memorial · Celia Griffin Memorial Park, Salthill · Galway · 2012 Two sandstone sails, each carved with the names of 50 emigrant ships, flank an older memorial to Celia Griffin, a six-year-old who died on Galway's streets; unveiled 4 July 2012.Map ↗
Famine Remembrance Park · Cleaghmore, Ballinasloe · Galway · 1998 · Gerry Cleary (park) A town council and community park on ground where hundreds were buried during the Famine; opened in 1998.
Ennistymon Famine Memorial · Ennistymon · Clare · year not given Described in the list as the first memorial in Ireland to those lost in the Famine; it stands across from the hospital built on the old workhouse grounds.
'Broken Heart' Famine memorial · Lower Mallow Street, Limerick · Limerick · 1997 · Maria Pizzuti A fountain in the shape of a broken heart, for those who emigrated from nearby Steamboat Quay.
Doolough memorial · Doo Lough · Mayo · year not given Marks the Doolough Tragedy: people who walked from Louisburgh to Delphi Lodge to seek relief, were refused, and died on the road back.
Sligo Famine memorials · Sligo quayside and famine graveyard · Sligo · year not given · Sligo Famine Commemoration Committee A family sculpture on the quay, where the list says 30,000 emigrated between 1847 and 1851, and gates and a tree at the graveyard where about 2,000 Famine victims lie.
Britain · 4
Liverpool Irish Famine Memorial · St Luke's churchyard, Leece Street, Liverpool · England · year not given · Éamonn O'Docherty In the grounds of St Luke's, itself a memorial to the Blitz. The list records 1,241,410 Irish arrivals in Liverpool in 1849–52; a plaque on the Clarence Dock gates, unveiled in 2000, says most of the 1,300,000 Irish migrants of 1845–52 passed through them.Map (St Luke's Church) ↗
Cardiff Famine cross · Cathays Cemetery, Cardiff · Wales · 1999 A Celtic cross of Irish limestone on a Welsh-stone base, unveiled in 1999 by the Wales Famine Forum for everyone of Irish origin who died in Wales.
Glasgow Irish and Highland famines memorial · Glasgow Green, beside the People's Palace · Scotland · 2018 Remembers both the Irish famine and the Highland famine; unveiled in 2018.
Carfin Famine cross · Carfin, North Lanarkshire · Scotland · year not given A Celtic cross unveiled by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern; the list gives only 'the early 21st century' for the date.
United States · 7
Irish Hunger Memorial · Battery Park City, Manhattan, New York · United States · 2002 · Brian Tolle, Gail Wittwer-Laird and 1100 Architect A half-acre sloping hillside of Irish stone and plants with a real 19th-century cottage from Attymass, Co. Mayo; dedicated 16 July 2002.Map ↗
Boston Irish Famine Memorial · Washington and School Streets, Boston · United States · 1998 · Robert Shure Two bronze groups on the Freedom Trail, one starving in Ireland, one arriving in Boston; the park opened in 1998. The article notes the sculpture has had harsh reviews.Map ↗
Irish Memorial (An Gorta Mór) · Front and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia · United States · 2003 · Glenna Goodacre A large bronze of figures in clusters, from starvation in Ireland at the east end to arrival in America; dedicated 25 October 2003.
Irish Famine Memorial, Cambridge · Cambridge Common, Massachusetts · United States · 1997 · Maurice Harron Bronze and granite, inscribed 'Never again should a people starve in a world of plenty'; dedicated by President Mary Robinson in July 1997.Map ↗
Great Hunger Memorial, Deer Island · Deer Island, Boston Harbor · United States · 2019 A 16-foot Celtic cross for the 850 people who died in quarantine on the island between 1847 and 1850; their bodies were found in 1990. Dedicated 25 May 2019.Map ↗
Oregon Irish Famine Memorial · Mount Calvary Cemetery, Portland, Oregon · United States · 2008 · Brendan McGloin A 14-foot sandstone cross carved in Donegal on an Irish limestone base; dedicated in 2008.Map ↗
Providence Irish Famine Memorial · Providence River Walk, Rhode Island · United States · 2007 A bronze of three figures and a relief wall telling the story of the Famine and emigration; dedicated 17 November 2007.
Canada · 4
Celtic Cross, Grosse Île · Grosse Île, St Lawrence River, Quebec · Canada · 1909 · Jeremiah O'Gallagher (Ancient Order of Hibernians) Unveiled 15 August 1909 by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, with inscriptions in Irish, English and French for those who died at the quarantine station in 1847 and 1848.Map (the island) ↗
Irish Commemorative Stone (the Black Rock) · Pointe-Saint-Charles, Montreal · Canada · 1859 · Workmen of Peto, Brassey and Betts A boulder of about 30 tonnes raised on 1 December 1859 by Victoria Bridge workers over a mass grave of 6,000 immigrants who died of ship fever in 1847–48; the first Canadian monument to the Famine.Map ↗
Ireland Park · Éireann Quay, Toronto · Canada · 2007 · Jonathan Kearns (park); Rowan Gillespie (sculptures) Opened in summer 2007 for the estimated 38,000 Irish who left Ireland during the Famine and the more than 1,100 new arrivals who died of typhus in 1847. Gillespie's 'Arrival' figures answer his 'Departure' in Dublin.Map ↗
Quebec City Famine cross · Quebec City · Canada · 1997 A 12-foot limestone cross given by the government of Ireland in 1997.
Australia · 2
Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine · Hyde Park Barracks, Macquarie Street, Sydney · Australia · 1999 · Angela and Hossein Valamanesh A table cut through the courtyard wall, with 420 names on glass of some of the 2,253 orphan girls brought to Sydney in 1848–50 under the Earl Grey Scheme; unveiled 1999.Map (Hyde Park Barracks) ↗
Famine Rock, Williamstown · Hobsons Bay foreshore, Williamstown, Melbourne · Australia · 1998 A rock and plaque marking 150 years since the first shipload of Irish Famine orphan girls arrived; a ceremony has been held there each November since.
In order of unveiling
1859 Montreal · 1909 Quebec · 1997 Dublin · 1997 at the foot of Croagh Patrick · 1997 Limerick · 1997 Massachusetts · 1997 Quebec City · 1998 Ballinasloe · 1998 Boston · 1998 Melbourne · 1999 Cardiff · 1999 Sydney · 2002 New York · 2003 Philadelphia · 2007 Rhode Island · 2007 Toronto · 2008 Oregon · 2012 Salthill · 2017 Midleton · 2018 beside the People's Palace · 2019 Boston Harbor
Quick answersHow many Famine memorials are there?
Wikipedia's list of memorials to the Great Famine says more than 100 have been built worldwide. This page covers the best-documented of them, not all.
What is the oldest Famine memorial?
Of the memorials here, the oldest is the Irish Commemorative Stone, the 'Black Rock', set up in Montreal on 1 December 1859 by Victoria Bridge workers over the grave of 6,000 immigrants who died of ship fever. The Grosse Île Celtic cross followed in 1909.
Where is the National Famine Memorial?
At Murrisk, Co. Mayo, at the foot of Croagh Patrick: John Behan's bronze coffin ship with skeletons in the rigging, unveiled by President Mary Robinson on 20 July 1997.
Why were so many memorials built in the 1990s?
The 150th anniversary of the Famine fell in 1995, and the government set up a National Famine Commemoration Fund to support memorials. 5 of the memorials on this page date from 1997 alone.
Sources and gaps
Drawn from Wikipedia's List of memorials to the Great Famine ↗ and, where one exists, the memorial's own article, which is the link on each name. A year, maker or map point is given only where the article states it. Where the coordinate belongs to the park, cemetery or island the memorial stands in, the map link says so.
Gaps: several memorials have no stated year or sculptor, and the list itself covers only part of the 100-plus memorials it counts. The sources also differ in places: the Toronto figures are "five bronze sculptures" in the Ireland Park article but "four" in the list.