Survey Data
Reg No
50010002
Rating
National
Categories of Special Interest
Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Monument
In Use As
Monument
Date
1995 - 2000
Coordinates
316587, 234492
Date Recorded
26/11/2011
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Group of bronze statues by Rowan Gillespie, erected 1997. Group of six human figures carrying bundles, one carrying person followed by figure of dog, all facing east on Custom House Quay. Each figure is over two metres in height set in bronze base flush to ground with group set in area of granite setts with bronze commemorative plaques randomly dispersed among group. Original plaque states: 'FAMINE'/ 'I feel this sculpture is not complete until the figures are crossing a sea of names, names cast in bronze and set into the cobble surround, thousands of names, names of those who have pledged to care' / Rowan Gillespie'.
Appraisal
This group of bronze figures is a haunting commemoration to the famine of the 1840s with their elongated profiles, tattered attire and gaunt faces evoking the desperation and tragedy of the hundreds of thousands who walked along this river front to the ferry port.