Dunbrody Famine Ship

The original Dunbrody was a three-masted barque built in Quebec in 1845 for the Graves family of New Ross, carrying timber east and emigrants west through the Famine years. The replica, launched in 2001 and built with traditional methods, is moored at the New Ross quay where the original loaded. The tour puts you below decks into the steerage accommodation, where a passenger's allocated space was a shared bunk about six feet by six for four adults, with the hatches closed in bad weather, and costumed interpreters take the roles of real people from the ship's actual manifests and tell their voyages, including who died. The Dunbrody's own record was better than many - the term coffin ship applies more accurately to vessels with far worse mortality - and the tour makes that distinction rather than flattening it. There is also an emigrant database and a Kennedy exhibit, the family having left from nearby Dunganstown.

What to look for

• The steerage deck - the shared bunk space allocated to four adults.
• The costumed passengers - interpreters playing real people from the manifests.
• The replica hull - built by traditional methods and launched in 2001.
• The Kennedy connection - the family's departure from nearby Dunganstown.

When to go

Any season; the below-decks tour is under cover. Reduced hours in winter. Tours run at set times and last about an hour, with the exhibition afterwards.

Good to know

Guided tour only, at fixed times. Below decks is low, cramped and dark by design. It is a replica, not the original vessel. Ticketed, and the surrounding exhibition is modest.

Nearby

The Kennedy Homestead at Dunganstown is south; Tintern Abbey and the Hook are further on.