Killala Diocese suffered terribly in the Great Famine. In 1847 a Mayo road inspector reported that he had secured the burial of 140 bodies which he found lying by the wayside, while in the same year fourteen schooners left Westport laden with wheat and oats. The Sligo Champion of February 26, 1847 reported, ‘Every hour the calamity is increasing, hundreds of unfortunate creatures have, within the last week, died of starvation. They were hurried to the grave coffinless and shroudless, so great is the mortality that the ancient customs are forgotten'. By 1851 a million had perished in Ireland and another million had succeeded in getting away.