On Friday 30th March 1839 two officials from the Westport Poor Law Union arrived in Loiusburgh to check on those individuals who were receiving outdoor relief (a payment made to destitute members of the community) to see if they still qualified for the payment. For some reason the inspection never took place and the officials went to Delphi Lodge and the people were instructed to appear there at 7am the following morning if they still wanted to receive their payments. Several hundred starving people set out to walk the ten mile journey to Delphi in terrible winter weather conditions. On arrival they were sent back to Louisburgh. There are no accurate figures for how many died on that march though some say up to a hundred may have perished. Every year an annual Famine Walk is held along the route to ensure that they are never forgotten.
Extracted from: www.mayo.ie