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Great famine memorial

The Great Famine Years 1866 - 1868 were the last large-scale famine to affect northern Europe. About 8% of Finland's population died of starvation. The seed of the famine years was sown in the 1850s, when in connection with the Crimean War grain stores were also destroyed in Finland. During the next ten years, there were also dry years, which culminated in famine starting in 1866.

The origin of the famine was also influenced by the technical primitiveness of farming and the large number of landless people. Relief was offered by doing emergency relief work, for which food was paid. The wandering of hungry people also carried diseases, e.g. typhus.

In Kauhaneva, ditches were dug in the bog as an emergency aid. The ones dug to the west and east of Kauhalammi can still be seen today. One ditch digger, crofter Kustaa Juurakko, died of hunger on returning from ditch digging in Lapinharju on April 11, 1868. A modest memorial stone has been erected at the place of his death.