Over the course of the Irish War of Independence and Civil War, nearly 300 ‘Big Houses’ (those belonging to aristocrats with in excess of 2,000 acres), 20% of a total of c. 1,500, were burned to the ground. Why? Author Terence Dooley, Professor of History at Maynooth University and Director of the Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses and Estates, in conversation with History Ireland editor Tommy Graham, provides some answers.

Burning the Big House—the story of the Irish country house in a time of war and revolution is published by Yale University Press.

Further information: https://yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?K=9780300260748

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