Big Houses of Ireland Feature

At the beginning of the 19th century there were over 4000 Big House Country Estates in Ireland; today there are less than 100. Find out what happened to them in this section: 'The Big House Experience' by Dr. Terence Dooley.

The Big House Experience

Dr. Terence Dooley, Author of the Big Houses of Ireland Feature

Dr. Terence Dooley M.A., Ph.D., H. Dip. Ed. is currently lecturing at the Department of Modern History NUI Maynooth. He was NUI Fellow in the Humanities, 2001-03. He is the author of The decline of the big house in Ireland: a study of Irish landed families, 1860-1960 (2001). He was commissioned in 2003 by the Irish Georgian Society and the Department of the Environment to write a report on the current state of Irish country houses. This report entitled A future for Irish historic houses? was launched by the Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, TD in September 2003. The main recommendation of the report, the establishment of a national trust-type organisation for Ireland, has now become government policy. Dr. Dooley's latest work 'The land for the people': the land question in independent Ireland will be published by UCD Press later this year (2004).

Dr. Terence Dooley, Author of the Big Houses of Ireland Feature

Dr. Terence Dooley M.A., Ph.D., H. Dip. Ed. is currently lecturing at the Department of Modern History NUI Maynooth. He was NUI Fellow in the Humanities, 2001-03. He is the author of The decline of the big house in Ireland: a study of Irish landed families, 1860-1960 (2001). He was commissioned in 2003 by the Irish Georgian Society and the Department of the Environment to write a report on the current state of Irish country houses. This report entitled A future for Irish historic houses? was launched by the Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, TD in September 2003. The main recommendation of the report, the establishment of a national trust-type organisation for Ireland, has now become government policy. Dr. Dooley's latest work 'The land for the people': the land question in independent Ireland will be published by UCD Press later this year (2004).

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The Big House Experience is the story of the landed estates in Ireland. The story is told using photographs, maps and prints.

The content is taken from the local studies collections held in Ireland's public libraries and was edited by Dr. Terence Dooley, author of The Decline of the Big House in Ireland: A Study of Irish Landed Families 1860-1960 (Wolfhound Press: Dublin, 2001).

Choose from one of the topic links to the right to start your tour.

Two further documents, also written by Dr. Dooley, are available as pdfs: