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THE BRIDGE OF TEARS Droichead na nDeor FALCARRAGH |
THE BRIDGE OF TEARS / Droichead na nDeor
The Bridge of Tears
Just outside the village of Falcrragh (map below) there is a small bridge called The Bridge of Tears (or Bridge of Sorrows) in Irish: Droichead na nDeor.
This was where in the 19th and early 20th century local familes would walk with their loved ones who were leaving home to escape famine and terrible poverty to seek a better in life by emigrating to the likes of America or Canada.
In those days the chances of parents ever seeing their young again were almost non-existent as the journey was too long, arduous and expensive.
Added to that, there was the knowledge that many of those who took the journey never made it, dying instead of sickness and disease on the ships transporting them in terrible conditions.
So the parting here was final and there would have been many tears shed, hence the name 'The Bridge of Tears'.
This was where in the 19th and early 20th century local familes would walk with their loved ones who were leaving home to escape famine and terrible poverty to seek a better in life by emigrating to the likes of America or Canada.
In those days the chances of parents ever seeing their young again were almost non-existent as the journey was too long, arduous and expensive.
Added to that, there was the knowledge that many of those who took the journey never made it, dying instead of sickness and disease on the ships transporting them in terrible conditions.
So the parting here was final and there would have been many tears shed, hence the name 'The Bridge of Tears'.
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The writing on the stone beside it, translated in English, reads: “Friends and relations of the person emigrating would come this far. Here they parted. This spot is the Bridge of Tears” |
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Click on any of the photographs below to enlarge.
