Abstract
The mental scars from Ireland's revolutionary period in the early twentieth century have been healed for some time now, as suggested by the largely dispassionate tone in which that era has been dissected by academic and non-academic historians alike during the ‘Decade of Centenaries’ (with the major exception of the acrimonious debates that were triggered by Peter Hart's examination of the Irish Republican Army's (IRA) campaign in Cork). The country's physical scars have also largely healed, with little obvious tangible evidence remaining of the widespread destruction of property and infrastructure that was an integral part of the political violence from 1919 to 1923. There are still some physical reminders of this violence to be seen, however. Dotted around the countryside are the shells of scores of Big Houses that were burned by the IRA during the War of Independence and Civil War, all that remains of many of the nearly 300 Big Houses that were torched in this period (some were later restored, while others were eventually demolished after falling into decay). Summerhill House, the grand ancestral home of the Langfords, once stood in the parish adjacent to this reviewer's native parish. Burned by the IRA in February 1921, its ruins stood for several decades before it was eventually demolished in 1957. Its ashlar limestone gate piers, curved entrance walls and tree-lined avenue are the only reminders today that a magnificent residence once existed there. Aspects of the destruction of the Irish country house have been explored before – most notably by James Donnelly's examination of the IRA's arson campaign in County Cork during the War of Independence, and Gemma Clark's discussion of the anti-Treaty IRA's burning of Big Houses in Limerick, Waterford and Tipperary during the Civil War – but Terence Dooley's latest book is the first monograph to analyse the burning of Big Houses throughout Ireland for the entire revolutionary period. It is unlikely to be surpassed for a long time.
Dooley's primary focus is the aristocracy, whom he defines as landlords who owned over 2,000 acres – the vast majority of the Big Houses that were burned belonged to this group. Their experiences are outlined in four sections. Part I, whose main title is ‘Days of Grandeur and Gravity’, illuminates in masterly fashion the cultural and political mindset of this influential group from the Land War to the end of the Great War. Part II, with the main title of ‘A Bonfire for a Generation’, concentrates on the Big House burnings during the War of Independence and Civil War. Part III, with its main title of ‘This is What Your Past Here Means to Us’, looks closely at the modus operandi of the arsonists, illustrates the often enthusiastic communal looting of burned Big Houses, provides a detailed account of some of the treasures that were lost in the fire attacks and examines the mixed success that Big House owners had in obtaining compensation from such bodies as county courts during the War of Independence, and later the Compensation (Ireland) Commission (commonly known as the Shaw Commission), the Irish Distress Committee, Irish Grants Committee and Free State courts. In the final section, headed ‘The Last Remnant of Irish Landlordism’, Dooley surveys how the Free State set about bringing an end to the seemingly interminable land question by completing the process of land purchase that had been set in train by previous British administrations and, through the instrument of the Irish Land Commission, by compulsorily purchasing large numbers of demesnes and untenanted estates from the surviving aristocracy.
While Dooley has touched on some of this material in important publications previously, most of Burning the Big House covers new ground. Perhaps the book's most controversial content is its discussion of the IRA's motives for burning Big Houses. The IRA itself usually claimed that these residences were burned during the War of Independence to prevent their being occupied or re-occupied by Crown forces, or, during the Civil War, as revenge for the Free State's execution of anti-Treaty IRA prisoners or to prevent Big Houses from being occupied by Free State soldiers. Although Dooley does not dismiss such assertions entirely, he offers an alternative reason for the torching of these buildings: agrarianism. For many IRA men, lingering resentment towards the landed ascendancy and its perceived tyrannical role in Ireland's past provided the spark, so to speak, for burning Big Houses, hence Tom Barry's gleeful recollection of how he and his men razed the houses of ‘the Britishers’ in West Cork. Burning Big Houses was, for many Republican activists, a cathartic act, intended to cleanse an area of its unwelcome ‘alien’ presence and avenge wrongs done to their ancestors by the aristocracy's ancestors. Although personal gain does not appear to have motivated Barry, this cannot be said of many other IRA arsonists and their supporters in this period. Dooley makes a compelling case that land hunger – a desire to expropriate aristocratic owners of their demesne and untenanted lands, which amounted to approximately 2.6 million acres in 1906 – was a strong factor in IRA attacks against the aristocracy's property. He supports his case with case studies of the burnings of Summerhill House (mentioned in this review's introductory paragraph) in Meath, Moydrum Castle in Westmeath, Tulley House in Mayo, Ballydugan House in Galway, Kilboy House in Tipperary, Mitchelstown Castle in Cork and Tubberdaly House in King's County (Offaly).
Dooley's book is based on a strong research foundation, with particularly effective use being made of such primary sources as estate papers, newspapers, memoirs and the Bureau of Military History witness statements. Dooley rightfully laments that the Irish Land Commission's records remain inaccessible to researchers, but despite their unavailability he has done a remarkable job in documenting the IRA's attacks against the Big House in the revolutionary era and in surveying the fate of the aristocracy in its immediate aftermath. The text is illustrated with dozens of well-chosen photographs, including one remarkable photograph of what appear to be sightseers visiting Macroom Castle in August 1922 while it was still burning. This book is one of the most important publications of the ‘Decade of Centenaries’ and is essential reading for anyone interested in Ireland's revolutionary era.