First Christmas at the Workhouse

A Christmas dinner

Illustration of a typical Victorian Christmas dinner. This picture is taken from the Illustrated London News 1849.

Carlow County Library

A Christmas dinner
Carlow County Library

A Christmas dinner

Illustration of a typical Victorian Christmas dinner. This picture is taken from the Illustrated London News 1849.

Carlow County Library

Enlarge image

A description of the first Christmas in the Carlow Workhouse is given in the Carlow Sentinel for December 28th 1844.

The paper reports that about two hundred inmates were supplied with "a comfortable dinner of roast beef of excellent quality" on Christmas Day.

An almost Dickensian glow pervaded telling of the tale. Large fires "blazed in the hall" and the women and children were described as being of "comfortable appearance" as they sat down to dinner that day.

In the Sentinel's opinion the scene afforded "ample proof of the benefits conferred on the poor since the house opened for their reception".

They reported also that the workhouse was "admirably conducted" and under the "vigilant superintendence" of the Guardians.