The Workhouse Multi-Cache

This is a small multi cache which can be achieved quite easily & quickly

Dunshaughlin (Irish: Dún Seachlainn, meaning "Seachlann's fort",or locally Irish: Domhnach Seachnaill) is a town in Meath.

The Dunshaughlin Workhouse survives to the present day with its original appearance. It was built in the Gothic revival style of the mid nineteenth century with pointed windows and diamond shaped panes of glass.

The Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, was passed in 1838. It was loosely based on the model being promoted for England and Scotland. Initially, 130 Irish Unions were created, with an additional 33 being added in 1848-50. Under the Poor Law system a workhouse was a place where people who were unable to support themselves, could go to live and work. Boards of Guardians were elected annually. The new workhouse building project began in January 1839, with the arrival in Dublin of architect George Wilkinson, who had designed a number of workhouses in England and Wales. Wilkinson was employed, at a salary of £500 per annum, to undertake the design work for all 130 new workhouses. His brief from the Poor Law Commissioners stated that: 'The style of building is intended to be of the cheapest description compatible with durability; and effect is aimed at by harmony of proportion and simplicity of arrangement, all mere decoration being studiously excluded.’

Within two months, Wilkinson had devised model plans upon which almost all Irish workhouse buildings would be based. By April 1843, 112 of the new workhouses were finished, and 18 others were almost complete.

For those that did enter the workhouse, conditions were often miserable. Dormitories were cramped and lacking ventilation. Beds consisted of a platform of planks and a straw mattress covered with rough rags. There was often a lack of water and at night, the only toilet facilities were large urination tubs in each ward which often overflowed. Diet relied heavily on oatmeal, buttermilk and potatoes.

The Dunshaughlin Workhouse was erected in 1840-41 on a 5 acre site, 1.5 miles to the south of Dunshaughlin, the building was planned to accommodate 400 inmates. Its construction cost £4,938 plus £912 for fittings etc. The building was declared fit for habitation on May 12 1841, and received its first admissions on 17 May –the first paupers; "two destitute persons, a man and a woman" were admitted.

Workhouse conditions were deliberately harsh to deter the able-bodied idle poor from relying on them. Men and women were segregated and children were separated from their parents. Aged pauper couples who by definition were neither idle nor criminal were not allowed to share a bedroom. By entering a workhouse paupers were held to have forfeited responsibility for their children. Education was provided but pauper children were often forcibly apprenticed without the permission or knowledge of their parents. Inmates surrendered their own clothes and wore a distinctive uniform.

During the famine in the mid-1840s, stables and probationary wards were converted into sleeping apartments to accommodate an additional 71 inmates. Initially, 25 fever patients were treated in a house hired for use as a fever hospital, with the workhouse stables also fitted up for the reception of new patients. A fever hospital was subsequently erected to the north of the workhouse. A burial ground was located to the rear of the workhouse.

In the late 1840s, the front administrative block was extended at its northern end with the addition of a three-storey wing containing children's accommodation and schoolrooms. To the rear of this block stood the two-storey main accommodation block. The accommodation block was linked at the rear to an infirmary and to the wards for "idiots", by a central spine containing the dining-hall and chapel. A small ventilation tower in the centre of the infirmary improved the circulation of air through the building.

In the post-famine years, the workhouse rarely had more than a few dozen inmates. At the start of the First World War, the site was initially commandeered for military use. After being found unsuitable for accommodating soldiers, it was fitted up to house 125 Belgian refugees and thereafter became as a holding depot for refugees until they could be placed elsewhere. Some refugees died during their residence at the workhouse and were buried in the paupers' graveyard. In 1920-21, the building was taken over as a barracks by the 'Black and Tans' — a British reservist force — during the War of Independence.

The Irish War of Independence culminated in the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6th December 1921. Between June 1922 and May 1923, a further conflict took place in the form of the Irish Civil War. During this, and the previous struggles, many workhouses had undergone military occupation and had been damaged or burnt down. Of the remainder:

• 33 became County Homes offering relief to the elderly and chronic invalid
• 32 became District or Fever Hospitals
• 9 became County Hospitals

Following the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, the workhouse system was abolished.

Dunshaughlin Workhouse buildings subsequently had a variety of uses including a school, a courthouse and a factory.

Today Dunshaughlin Workhouse is one of the few of the original 163 left for us to see and get a real feel for what these buildings were like. The entrance and administration block has been refurbished for use as a guest-house. The remainder of the buildings are derelict.

Stand at the gates and image the despair and dread that was felt by the people entering here.

To find the cache you need to go to the co-ordinates listed above and gather the following information.

Please note this is a very busy road.

Count the number of letters in the second word on the plaque at the gate: Call this: A

Count the total number of pillars at the entrance: Call this : B

You will find the cache at:

N53 2A.(A-B)B3

W06 (A/3)1.BB(A-B)

There is some parking in the layby at the cache location – please beware of muggles - there is a house close by.

The cache is a 900ml tab lock box in a black cloth. When placed it contained a small FTF prize, logbook,pencil & parer, several goodies, and a Geocoin.