Free Entry Day at the National Famine Museum

On Thursday 20 August 2026, the National Famine Museum at Strokestown Park is opening its doors free of charge for National Heritage Week. The museum sits inside the old stable yards of the Strokestown Park estate and tells the story of the Great Famine through the papers of the Mahon family, the landlords who evicted more than 1,490 tenants from the estate in 1847 and chartered ships to send many of them onward to Canada. Entry is normally ticketed, so Heritage Week is one of the few days visitors can walk in without paying.

What to expect

The permanent exhibition is built around the Strokestown Park Famine archive, one of the largest surviving collections of Famine-era estate papers in Ireland. It includes rent ledgers, eviction notices and letters written by tenants to the landlord pleading for food, rent relief or passage abroad, alongside displays connecting the 1840s famine to food insecurity around the world today. The museum sets the domestic life of the Mahon family, whose Palladian mansion and walled gardens stand a short walk from the museum entrance, directly against the experience of the tenant farmers who worked their land. Free entry runs from 10am to 5.30pm, with last admission at 4.30pm, so there is a full day to see the galleries at a normal pace. Staff are on hand throughout to answer questions, and the free day typically draws a busier than usual crowd, so arriving earlier in the day is worth doing if you want a quieter visit.

Getting there

Strokestown Park is signposted from the N5 on the edge of Strokestown town, roughly 23km from Roscommon town and 22km from Longford. There is visitor parking on site, and the museum, house and gardens share the one entrance.

While you’re in Strokestown

A free day at the museum is a good excuse to make a longer visit of the wider Strokestown Park estate, including the restored Georgian walled gardens next door, even though the house tour itself is ticketed separately. There is more to see in Strokestown and across Co. Roscommon.

Good to know

• Thursday, 20 August 2026, 10am to 5.30pm (last admission 4.30pm)
• Venue: National Famine Museum, Strokestown Park, Strokestown
• Price: free entry for National Heritage Week only; normal admission applies outside this date
• Part of National Heritage Week, which runs 15 to 23 August 2026 nationally
• House and gardens tours are ticketed separately and are not included in the free museum entry