West Cork town remembers Famine victims with cross

Descendants of workouse and County Home residents buried in unmarked graves in a west Cork cemetery took part in a solemn procession to mark the return of a sacred symbol yesterday.

A 2.7m-high Famine Cross retrieved from a builder’s skip in Cork City was escorted through Clonakilty by a crowd that grew to well over 200 people.

Led by the town’s mayor and local parish priest Mgr Aidan O’Driscoll, parishioners took turns to carry the cross in a symbolic gesture as the procession made its way to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, where it will occupy a permanent sanctuary space in the churchyard.