Activities

National Heritage Week 2026 at Louth County Archives

As part of the Heritage Stewardship Fund 2026 grant, the County Archives is organising a free Heritage Week event on Tuesday 18^th August, between 11.30am – 1.30pm, in the Old Gaol, Ardee Road, Dundalk, A91PY17 entitled ‘Exploring Louth’s Workhouse Archive Collection’: Exploring Louth’s Workhouse Archive Collection | National Heritage Week 15th – 23rd August 2026

Heritage Stewardship Fund 2026

We are delighted to share that we are receiving funding from the Heritage Council of Ireland, as part of the Heritage Stewardship Fund 2026, for the conservation of some of our poor law union archives (Workhouse Board of Guardians) that are in very poor condition.

Under the 1838 Poor Law Act, in response to the widespread destitution, the country was divided into poor law unions, each with its own workhouse and each governed by a Board of Guardians. In Louth there were three such unions: Ardee, Drogheda and Dundalk.

The most voluminous series of archives surviving from the poor law unions are the minute books, which record the proceedings of weekly meetings. These document the running of the workhouses, the collection of rates, correspondence with their central body, the Poor Law Commissioners and others, as well as reports on issues arising in the workhouse, or on the provision of public health, or in relation to local and national events. Attitudes to poverty, the destitute, infirm, or children can be traced and from the late nineteenth century, references to the rise of nationalism can be found. The archives are an invaluable research source for all those who may be interested in the subject including local or social historians.

The archives currently being conserved contain various damage problems such as dirt, mould, tears, or broken spines. Some have suffered very bad damp damage from previous poor storage conditions. Once conserved they will be accessible to everyone for research.