Irish Workhouses: Fermoy Workhouse

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Map

Fermoy Workhouse on Historic 25 inch map (1897-1913)

The Fermoy Poor Law Union was officially declared in 1839. The Workhouse was adapted from a pre-existing building, a barracks, which opened in 1841 at a cost of £4,399. It was built to house a maximum capacity of 900 inmates. The Fermoy Workhouse was built to accomodate people from the areas of Ahern, Ardnageehy, Ballyhooly, Ballynoe, Castlelyons, Castletownroche, Derryvillane, Fermoy, Glanworth, Kilcummer, Kildorrery, Kilgullane, Killatty, Kilworth, Knockmourne, Macrooney, Marshalstown, Mitchelstown, Mogeely, Pharihy, Rathcormack, and Templemologga.

In 1857 a new Fermoy Workhouse was constructed to house700 inmates at a cost of £18,000.

In 1863, after medical advice on the matter, a Turkish bath was installed in Fermoy Workhouse.

The Fermoy Workhouse site is now occupied by St Patrick's Community Hospital with some of the original buildings still standing.

References

	For more information see here	Ireland	VIEW SOURCE
	County Cork Archives	Ireland	VIEW SOURCE

Type of Building:

Workhouse

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Edward Gormly (ab 1824 - 1897) was the Workhouse Master at the Fermoy Workhouse, and his son, Francis Martin Gormly (1868 - 1935) appears to have succeeded him. DNA matches connect Edward's descendants to several of my cousins who descend from Gormlys from County Roscommon. I would love to learn more about the Fermoy Workhouse, to include where I might find additional records to research. I have researched descendants of Edward Gormly and his wife, Mary Casey (1841 - 1888) on irishgenealogy.ie and in other online databases. Edward and Mary had a number of children born at the workhouse in Fermoy and I have tracked them to England, Australia, and the United States. Helen Shimek

H. Shimek

Sunday 3rd November 2019 04:47PM

Hi Helen,

Wow that's so interesting! Have you written up Chronicles for Edward Gormly and his family? If not then I could help you get started and we can link them to the Fermoy Workhouse as staff.

In terms of finding out where more details about the Fermoy Workhouse are kept, your best option is to contact the Cork archivists directly at archivist@corkcity.ie

Best of luch infinding out more and please keep us posted!\

Valerie - IrelandXO Team

Chronicles Editor

Monday 4th November 2019 09:18AM

Thank you for your response. I have not written up Chronicles for Edward Gormly and is family.

H. Shimek

Tuesday 5th November 2019 10:24PM

Hi Helen,

I would be happy to help you get started if you want to email me any details that you might have at vkelly@irelandxo.com

All the best

Valerie

Chronicles Editor

Thursday 7th November 2019 05:39PM

I am researching my family tree and it seems that my grandfather (who I never knew) was in the workhouse and left to travel to Nottingham in England where he met my grandmother. His name was Patrick Bartholomew Driscoll. Is there anyone in the Fermoy area that could help us find out more?

Sean Driscoll

Thursday 14th November 2019 12:11AM

Hi Sean,

Your best bet to get some help with this would be to post directly in the Fermoy or even County Cork Message Boards as more people will see it there. For more detailed records from Fermoy Workhouse you can contact the County Cork archivist directly at archivist@corkcity.ie

Good luck in your research!

All the best

Valerie - IrelandXO Team

Chronicles Editor

Thursday 14th November 2019 11:34AM

Hi Janet,

We would love it if you could write up Chronicles for your ancestor and connect them to the Workhouse. By having them on IrelandXO it may even help you to find connected relatives as it will bring your ancestors to the attention of our wonderful team of volunteers.

Also, just so that you are not narrowing your search too much, many people were born at the Workhouses as the infirmaries often doubled as lying-in hospitals. So just because they were born there it does not necesarily mean that their mother was living there full time.

Best of luck with your research

Valerie - IrelandXO Team

Chronicles Editor

Friday 10th April 2020 11:50AM

Hello
Re Joseph Sullivan
Died in 1941 age 73yrs
From Cork. Possible year of birth 1868 or there abouts !,
This is a bit vague I know, however, I am researching this man from Cork who lived, worked and is buried in Co Tyrone. Apparently he was very popular and well liked, he remained single and had no children and it is thought he did not have contact with his birth family or area.
The information i have is that he left Cork as a young man, worked his way up the country, eventually settling in a rural part of Tyrone, townland Cranlome near Dungannon. I have searched the civil records for births of Joseph Sullivan (a popular name in Cork !!) I have narrowed it down to a few possibilities, mainly in the area of Castletown, however I have just discovered a birth of a Joseph Sullivan in Fermoy Workhouse 1869.
I googled Fermoy and see it is on the river Blackwater, we have a river Blackwater in Tyrone too, this could be coincidence !
Also ironically I see that the manager of the Workhouse was Edward Gormley (my maiden name is Gormley)
Any help will be much appreciated, our reason for searching is in case there is a family in Cork wondering where their great uncle/cousin ended up ! We would love to complete the circle and trace his roots back to Cork
Thank you for taking the time to read this, my email is marie.loughran@hotmail.co.uk or text 07746633446