The Murrisk famine monument is a bronze model of one of the ships that left the area for the new world. The small village of Murrisk on Ireland's lovely west coast with its mountain Croagh Patrick has been a holy place for over fifteen hundred years.
Pilgrims come from all over the world to climb the mountain and pray in the church on the top.
The large pilgrim day is the last Sunday in July when usually around twenty-five thousand people climb. In the village lies the ruins of the old Abbey which dates back to 1457 AD when Pope Callistus III gave permission to the Augustinian Monks to build it. For many years the residents have taken great pride in improving their village by repairing stone walls, building a community centre, putting in new street lighting even the children give a few hours monthly to gather the roadside rubbish. Recently the village was rewarded for their efforts with a grant of IRP250,000 to build a Millennium Park which is now open, the famine monument seen at the top of this page is a part of the peace park. Although Westport is the better known, Murrisk is much the older.