National Library of Ireland's Big Houses in Ireland online exhibition

The National Library of Ireland is hosting an online exhibition entitled Power & Privilege: the Big House in Ireland. From the site:

Ireland's “Big Houses” were the large country homes of local landlords. Most of them were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, and were usually surrounded by large estates. Tenants on the estate rented the land from their landlords.

These photographs, collected by the National Library of Ireland, capture scenes from life in the Big Houses before this way of life disappeared. The period they capture looks peaceful and prosperous, but by the 1920s the landlord system in Ireland had been dismantled. Without their large estates, combined with the economic depression of the 1920s and 1930s, few families could afford the upkeep of these homes, and the era of the “Big House” ended.

You can access the exhibition at https://artsandculture.google.com/story/9wWhhV1p6BkA8A 

Chris

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