1895 – Plug is Pulled on Roscrea’s Cold Baths

Nenagh Guardian, 14 December 1895

The Workhouses were very tightly run ships in the late 1800s: luxuries were non-existant, waste was not tolerated and malingerers were discouraged. The Board of each Union always sought to cut their overheads and bring the numbers in the Workhouse down to the absolute minimum. And if giving a tramp a heart attack by dunking him in an ice cold bath did the trick then, as far as some of them were concerned in Roscrea, so be it…