Castletown Board of Guardians
IE CCCA/BG/59
The Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act 1923 led to the abolition of the workhouse system, and its replacement with the formation of the county boards of health and public assistance. The last meeting of Castletown Board of Guardians took place on 8 May 1924.
Content & Structure
Scope & Content The surviving minutes of Castletown Board of Guardians cover almost the entire existence of that body, the only unfilled gap being for its final years from September 1921 until May 1924. Two other gaps in the main series of minutes (BG/59/A) are filled by the two volumes of ‘rough’ minutes present (BG/59/AA/1-2). The ordinary minutes include statistical information on workhouse inmates and details of workhouse life and administration. From the 1850s the volumes contain minutes of proceedings under the Medical Charities Acts and, from the 1870s, the Public Health Acts, documenting the board’s increasing role in health and sanitation, and the work of dispensaries and medical officers in the dispensary districts. Early minute books also record the difficulties involved in separating the union from that of Bantry, and in putting rate collection and the provision of services on a good footing. The other item present, the Castletown Dispensary Committee minute book, 1852-1892, sheds light on the provision of public medical services in a local context. Clinics, vaccinations, midwife services, and tickets for out door relief and admission to the workhouse were all managed locally and reported on to the board of guardians, which approved matters requiring sanction. Dispensaries in Adrigole and Bere Island are also documented. Taken altogether, the records trace the provision and development of poor law services in the area, including the treatment of the sick and those with mental illnesses, arrangements for children, out door relief and medical treatment (including vaccination) in dispensary districts, the challenges facing public health and sanitary provision, and the beginnings of the provision of labourers’ cottages. The minute books also shed light on dealings with other bodies including the PLC/LGB, the Office of Public Works, Castletown RDC, and Cork County Council. Subjects such as the end and aftermath of the Great Famine, local agriculture and rural ‘congestion’, emigration, and the local effects of World War One are also documented. In addition, some resolutions provide a glimpse of local issues, e.g., the resignation of a popular Catholic chaplain in 1919 [see BG/59/A/87].
© Cork City and County Archives 2011
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