New York and Callan, Co Kilkenny, may have little in common. Residents of both, however, have similar decisions to make concerning sites that have been the scenes of tragedy.
Making a connection between "ground zero", the scene of the terrorist attack on New York on September 11th, and the workhouse in Callan where thousands died during the Famine, might appear to be stretching things. A US-based architect who addressed a seminar in the Kilkenny town on Monday did not think so, however. Mr Douglas Burnham said the debate in New York over what to do with the site where the World Trade Centre towers once stood is framed by the question: "What is the appropriate use of this open wound, this massive grave, which is located in the heart of NYC's financial district?"
"Although an extreme example, I believe it is relevant to the issues at hand here in Callan," he said. Mr Burnham, the founder and principal of a company in Berkeley, California, called envelope: architect plus design, said the debate in New York seemed to be polarised between those who believed the site should be used for a memorial only, and those who favoured a "business as usual" resolve to return the site to commercial use and "not be cowered by terrorism".
There were problems with both approaches that could inform the discussion in Callan. "The dilemma we are faced with is, how to re-use a site, and create a positive history on 'hallowed ground' without denying the site's 'difficult' history and, hopefully, the lessons gained from that history." Monday's seminar was organised by the Callan Workhouse Stakeholders' Group, comprising the Camphill Communities, CEART, Kilkenny Co Council, the South Eastern Health Board and the Callan Heritage Society.
New local government offices are almost completed in the refurbished master's house. Proposals for other buildings in the workhouse complex include a rehabilitation and healthy living centre with a café and organic gardening project, a library and IT learning centre, a health centre and a heritage museum and social housing.
Mr Tony Walsh, director of services with the county council, said the people of Callan would decide what to do with the buildings. The workhouse was commissioned in 1838 and completed in 1842.
It was, in effect, "a prison for the poor", said Mr Patrick Lydon of the Camphill Communities.
Between 1846 and 1851 3,500 people died in it, two-and-half times the population of Callan today.
