The population fell in the 1840s during the Great Irish Famine. Evidence can be found in the former workhouse, now the district hospital at the north side of New Street, and the mass graveyard to the west, near Clondrohid. During the late 18th and early 19th century a number of Anglo-Irish families, and a branch of the Massey family, settled in the area; but many of their estate houses were burned by rebels during and after the Irish War of Independence as the town was caught the turmoil of IRA activity.