The Lismore workhouse was built between 1839 and 1842 and had accommodation for 500 paupers. Within a few years of opening, it was overwhelmed by the catastrophe of the Famine. At one stage there were 700 inmates, most of them starving and disease-ridden.

The census of 1841 showed an Irish population of over eight million, at least one-third of which lived almost exclusively on the potato. Then in September 1845 the crop was struck by a mysterious blight; it recurred in the succeeding years. The failure of the potato produced hardship throughout Europe, but in Ireland the situation was uniquely catastrophic - millions faced starvation.

Owing to the huge number of deaths, especially from typhus and relapsing fever, the existing graveyards became a health risk, so the duke of Devonshire presented two acres to the Roman Catholic clergy in which the victims could be buried. The Famine Graveyard remains today a grisly reminder of the local impact of the greatest catastrophe in Irish history.