Why Are People Calling for the Vandeleur Walled Garden to Be Renamed?
The Vandeleur Walled Garden in Kilrush, County Clare is one of the region’s best-known tourist attractions. Thousands of visitors come each year to enjoy its restored gardens, visitor centre, walking trails, and events.
What many visitors do not know is that the garden carries the name of the Vandeleur family, one of the most controversial landlord families in Irish history.
Today, a growing number of people believe that a public amenity restored with public funds should not continue to honour a family associated with mass eviction, famine-era suffering, and the destruction of entire communities throughout West Clare.
That is why the Justice for the Famine Victims Committee is campaigning for the garden to be renamed from the Vandeleur Walled Garden to the Kilrush Walled Garden or any other name – just not the Vandeleur Walled Garden.
Who Were the Vandeleurs?
The Vandeleurs were landlords who controlled vast estates around Kilrush during the nineteenth century.
During and after An Gorta Mór (The Great Famine), thousands of tenants were removed from Vandeleur lands. Families who could no longer pay rent were evicted from their homes and forced into the workhouse, onto overcrowded emigrant ships, or onto the roadside.
Historical records show widespread suffering across the estate during this period.
While famine devastated the people of West Clare, landlord interests were frequently protected at the expense of the tenants who depended on the land for survival.
The Human Cost
The Great Famine was not merely a crop failure.
It was a humanitarian catastrophe.
In the Kilrush district under the Vandeleurs’ Rule:
- At least 20,000 people starved to death or died of famine-related disease in the Kilrush Union alone (possibly 25,000)
- Another 20,000 were forced into exile — penniless, desperate, forgotten
Many descendants of those families still live in Clare, throughout Ireland, and across the Irish diaspora today.
For them, the name Vandeleur is not simply a historical curiosity.
It represents eviction, displacement, and suffering.
Why Does the Name Matter?
No one is proposing the destruction of history.
The opposite is true.
History should be remembered honestly.
The question is whether a publicly owned and publicly funded attraction should continue to honour the name of a landlord family associated with one of the darkest chapters in local history.
Throughout Ireland and around the world, communities regularly reconsider public names and monuments when new generations decide that those names no longer reflect their values.
The campaign asks a simple question:
Should a public garden honour the victims of famine and eviction, or the landlords associated with that suffering?
What the Campaign Supports
The Justice for the Famine Victims Committee supports:
- Retaining and protecting the garden
- Preserving local history
- Educating visitors about the famine
- Honouring the victims and survivors
- Choosing a name that reflects community values
The campaign does not seek to erase history.
It seeks to remember all of it.
Learn More
To learn more about the history of the Vandeleur Walled Garden, the famine in West Clare, and the campaign to rename the garden, visit the other pages:
- About the Campaign
- History of the Vandeleur Estate
- Famine Victims of West Clare
- Petition for Renaming the Garden
Join the Campaign
If you believe public spaces should honour the victims of famine rather than those associated with their suffering, we invite you to support the campaign.
Together we can ensure that remembrance, historical truth, and public commemoration go hand in hand.
Sign the Petition Today
Justice for the Famine Victims Committee 