The Irish country house : a social history / Peter Somerville-Large ; specially commissioned photographs by Mark Fiennes.

Main entry:

Somerville-Large, Peter.

Title & Author:

The Irish country house : a social history / Peter Somerville-Large ; specially commissioned photographs by Mark Fiennes.

Publication:

London : Sinclair-Stevenson, 1995.

Description:

x, 372 pages : illustrations, map ; 26 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 367-372) and index.

Summary:

"For seven hundred years the Ascendancy dominated Ireland. Within their demesnes landlords built their great houses, landscaped their parks and spent wealth gathered from rents. In the twentieth century they vanished, leaving behind ruins and a reputation for being ogres. Making use of letters, diaries, memoirs, estate documents, inventories, travellers' tales and family reminiscences, Peter Somerville-Large examines the lifestyle of those described by a nineteenth-century traveller as "rural sovereigns". He quotes from the writings of George Moore, Elizabeth Bowen, Edith Somerville, Violet Martin and Molly Keane. He describes the elegance, discomfort and danger associated with castle and mansion. Somerville-Large examines the wretched relationship between landlord and tenant, the flawed concept of "loyalty" and the terrors of the land war. The injustice and horror of eviction are discussed. He dwells on ennui endured in remote, rain-swept places. Among the hunting squires, parvenues, impoverished clergymen and unhappy Englishwomen, those assembled in these pages include the great Earl of Kildare, the Earl of Cork, Spenser, Swift, Parnell, Douglas Hyde, Lady Gregory and scores of other memorable characters who created or inhabited Norman fortresses, Georgian mansions, modest rectories and gaunt fantasies of the Gothic revival. Here is a story of conquest, ambition, acquisition and loss; shameful, grim, hilarious, unedifying and glorious."--Jacket.

ISBN:

1856192377
9781856192378
1856197654 (pbk.)
9781856197656 (pbk.)

Subject:

Country homes Ireland History.
Country life Ireland History.
Nobility Ireland History.
Country homes
Country life
Manners and customs
Nobility
Ireland Social life and customs.
Irlande Mœurs et coutumes.
Ireland
Country houses Social life History
Northern Ireland

Form/genre:

History

Added entries:

Fiennes, Mark, photographer.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 192532
Call No.: ID DA985.S66; ID:97-B3620
Status: Available

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