BackBack

The Peer, The Priests and the Press. A Story Of the Demise Of Irish Landlordism

£16.00

Lord George Agusta Hill was the godson of a British king and the son of one if the largest landowners in Ireland and one of England's richest women. He also married two of Jane Austen's nieces. In 1838 he bought 23,000 acres of Gweedore, West Donegal, and sought to gain a reputation as a kindly landlord, despite doing away with the traditional Crundale system of farming. His reforms won him admiration within his own class, aided by a largely pliant press. He was praised for investing in roads and buildings, including a hotel which became the basis of a nascent tourism business.

ROY GREENSLADE describes the lengths Hill went to in his mission to 'civilise' tenants, including learning Irish and banning the distillation of alcohol. It was no mean feat for a member of the Protestant Ascendancy to overcome antagonism from 3,000 Catholic tenants to all the sweeping changes he was making. But then came one reform too many and tenants began to rebel. They were supported by a number of local priests and also a campaigning journalist, Dennis Holland. Greenslade charts the subsequent unravelling of Hill's reputation, which marked the beginning of the end of Irish landlordism itself. 

Hurry, there are only 5 item(s) left!
Shipping & Delivery

Vestibulum curae torquent diam diam commodo parturient penatibus nunc dui adipiscing convallis bulum parturient suspendisse parturient a.Parturient in parturient scelerisque nibh lectus quam a natoque adipiscing a vestibulum hendrerit et pharetra fames.Consequat net

Vestibulum parturient suspendisse parturient a.Parturient in parturient scelerisque nibh lectus quam a natoque adipiscing a vestibulum hendrerit et pharetra fames.Consequat netus.

Scelerisque adipiscing bibendum sem vestibulum et in a a a purus lectus faucibus lobortis tincidunt purus lectus nisl class eros.Condimentum a et ullamcorper dictumst mus et tristique elementum nam inceptos hac vestibulum amet elit