The Victorian Age

1837 to 1901

The Bank of Ireland Building, Monaghan, 1979

A black-and-white photo of the Bank of Ireland in Monaghan. This is a large, two-storey stone building with original arched windows. Built in 1875, this building is an example of a curved corner in Monaghan town. It also demonstrates the use of local stone as a building material. Originally built to house Hibernian Bank, it now houses a Bank of Ireland branch.

Courtesy of Monaghan County Museum.

The Bank of Ireland Building, Monaghan, 1979
Courtesy of Monaghan County Museum.

The Bank of Ireland Building, Monaghan, 1979

A black-and-white photo of the Bank of Ireland in Monaghan. This is a large, two-storey stone building with original arched windows. Built in 1875, this building is an example of a curved corner in Monaghan town. It also demonstrates the use of local stone as a building material. Originally built to house Hibernian Bank, it now houses a Bank of Ireland branch.

Courtesy of Monaghan County Museum.

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Parsonstown Workhouse (Birr Co. Offaly) -Front Elevation

Parsonstown Workhouse was built in 1842 in Birr Co. Offaly to accommodate 700 inmates. Like all of the workhouses built after the passage of the 1838 Poor Law it was built to a standard Neo-Gothic Design. Male and Female quarters were separate . The workhouse was built to deal with the growing problem of poverty in 19th century Ireland. The Workhouse was managed by a Board of Guardians made up typically of prominent local landlords and businessmen. They met weekly to discuss the day to day management of the workhouse. Minutes of these meetings show that they were concerned with such matters as ordering of provisions.

Parsonstown Workhouse (Birr Co. Offaly) -Front Elevation

Parsonstown Workhouse (Birr Co. Offaly) -Front Elevation

Parsonstown Workhouse was built in 1842 in Birr Co. Offaly to accommodate 700 inmates. Like all of the workhouses built after the passage of the 1838 Poor Law it was built to a standard Neo-Gothic Design. Male and Female quarters were separate . The workhouse was built to deal with the growing problem of poverty in 19th century Ireland. The Workhouse was managed by a Board of Guardians made up typically of prominent local landlords and businessmen. They met weekly to discuss the day to day management of the workhouse. Minutes of these meetings show that they were concerned with such matters as ordering of provisions.

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Queen Victoria succeeded her Uncle William IV at the age of 18 in June 1837. She was to rule as sovereign for 63 years and 7 months, during which time the wealth, influence and extent of the British Empire reached its peak. In 1840 the Queen married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, an enlightened, liberal and cultured prince, who shared and fostered the Queen's interests in architecture, music and the arts. It was Prince Albert who promoted the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in London in 1851, and encouraged its sequel in Dublin two years later. His death in 1861 left Victoria isolated and alone.

The Victorian age in Ireland is characterised by improvements of the infrastructure of the country: harbours and ports, lighthouses, bridges and roads. It saw the creation of an extensive railway system; the growth of banking throughout the country; the founding of the University Colleges in Belfast, Cork and Galway; the building of hospitals and schools and the creation of large and increasingly ambitious Catholic churches throughout the country.

This history of improvement is overshadowed by the horror of the great Famine of 1845 to 47, by the need to erect Poor Law Union Workhouses throughout the county, by the Encumbered Estates where landlords lacked the income to help the poor, and by the poverty that forced emigration on over 2 million people.