The Irish State and the Big House in Independent Ireland, 1922–73
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The Irish state and the Big House in independent Ireland, 1922–73 Emer Crooke, B.A., M.A. Thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D Department of History, National University of Ireland, Maynooth Head of department: Professor Marian Lyons Supervisor of research: Professor Terence Dooley January 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of figures i Acknowledgements ii Abbreviations iv Map: The locations of Big Houses featured in case studies v INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: THE BIG HOUSE AFTER INDEPENDENCE, 1922–32 18 CHAPTER TWO: THE BIG HOUSE ABANDONED: USE AND DISUSE, 1932–48 65 CHAPTER THREE: THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC WORKS AND THE BIG HOUSE, 1930–60 109 CHAPTER FOUR: POLITICAL CHANGE AND SILENT DECLINE, 1948–57 147 CHAPTER FIVE: THE IRISH LAND COMMISSION AND THE BIG HOUSE, 1940–65 173 CHAPTER SIX: A CLIMATE OF CHANGE, 1957–73 216 CONCLUSION 263 APPENDICES Appendix One: Office of the Minister for Lands, memorandum for the government, ‘Preservation of mansions and large houses’, 5 Aug. 1958 279 BIBLIOGRAPHY 288 Lists of figures and tables Fig. 1.1 Russborough House, county Wicklow Fig. 2.1 Hazelwood House, county Sligo Fig. 3.1 Dunsandle House, county Galway Fig. 4.1 Killarney House, county Kerry Fig. 5.1 Shanbally Castle, county Tipperary Fig. 6.1 Bishopscourt, county Kildare Appendix One: Table 1: Big Houses in the possession of the Land Commission, Aug. 1958. Table 2: Results of auctions and sales by tender of Land Commission houses and accommodation plots, c. 1954–8. Table 3: Big Houses demolished by the Land Commission from c. 1954–8. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My first acknowledgment must be to Jesus, my Lord and my God. I entrusted this project into His hands, through the intercession of His mother, Mary, aware that without Him and His help I could do nothing. As such I now offer this project with my thanks and praise to His greater honour and glory and for the salvation of souls. By far the greatest debt I owe is to my wonderful family; my mam, dad, sister Laura and brother Dónal and to my Granny, Mary. They have always been utterly unselfish in their support, encouragement, patience and love and without them I could not have written this project nor be where I am today. I love them very much and am glad of this opportunity to acknowledge everything they do for me. I know that I am very blessed to have such a family and this thesis is dedicated to the memory of my wonderful Granny. My mother and father were patient and competent editors on this project. I owe a debt of gratitude to my supervisor Professor Terence Dooley who has always been a kind support and a friendly mentor with whom to discuss the project, as well as a knowledgeable and competent supervisor from whom I have learned a great deal and have always been encouraged in my work. Thanks are also due to the Head of the History Department at NUI Maynooth, Professor Marian Lyons, for her kindness, gentleness and encouragement. I must also acknowledge the former Head of Department, Professor R. V. Comerford, a real gentleman, who encouraged me at the beginning of this undertaking and enabled me to pursue this course. I am appreciative of the financial generosity of the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (now the IRC) Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship and the NUIM John and Pat Hume scholarship. I also want to thank the patient staff at the National Archives and particularly my colleagues in the ii Admissions Office, Maynooth. I have neglected friends and family during the course of this project and I thank them all for their understanding and patience. I owe in particular an enormous debt of gratitude to Brian Casey who, with the utmost diligence and promptitude looked over the thesis for me and provided advice, support and encouragement as a skilled editor. I am extremely grateful for his selfless kindness to me. I also wish to acknowledge the technical support of Robert McNamara. Thanks are also due to the Missionary of Charity sisters for their friendship and their example in all they do. In particular, Sr Felice, Sr Francis and Sr Vianita have been a real inspiration as friends and I thank them for their prayers and our spiritual mother, Mother Teresa, for her intercession on my behalf. Furthermore, all the men I have met over the years while working in their soup kitchen and hostel, too many to name here, have been important to me and their incredible perseverance, faith and kindness in the face of many trials is always an inspiration. I am also grateful to Fr Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C. for his prayers and generosity. iii ABBREVIATIONS C. P. W. Commissioners of Public Works E. E. C. European Economic Community E. U. European Union H. I. T. H. A. Historic Irish Tourist Houses and Gardens Association I. G. S. Irish Georgian Society I. T. Irish Times I. T. A. Irish Tourist Association I. R. A. Irish Republican Army L. C. Land Commission M. P. Member of Parliament N. A. I. National Archives of Ireland N. M. A. C. National Monuments Advisory Council O. P. W. Office of Public Works T. D. Teachta Dála iv Map: The locations of Big Houses featured in case studies A — Russborough House, county Wicklow D — Killarney House, county Kerry B — Hazelwood House, county Sligo E — Bishopscourt House, county Kildare C — Dunsandle House, county Galway v Introduction I. Aims and objectives The principal aim of this thesis is to examine the attitudes of the Irish state to the Big House after independence in 1922 until accession to the European Economic Community (E.E.C.) in 1973. State is used in this thesis to include governments, ministers, civil servants, politicians and state bodies. The term Big House will denote the country homes of landlords in Ireland, predominantly dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. ‘Big House’ will be capitalised throughout the thesis because it was the label, rather than the description, popularly used to denote country houses in Ireland. The terms Big House and country house are interchangeable and will be used throughout this thesis. Terence Dooley described how these were often imposing mansions ‘built to inspire awe in social equals and, indeed, deference in the lower social classes’.1 Furthermore, he pointed out that the term was also inflected with resentment as the houses were built on ‘what most tenant farmers would deem to have been confiscated land’,2 a claim dating back to the time of the English plantations in Ireland. Therefore, Dooley asserted that ‘above all, and particularly from the 1880s, they inspired hostility’.3 This study will reveal and analyse the attitudes of Irish governments to the Big House from 1922 to 1973 through an examination of Oireachtas debates, private government files, policy and legislation in order to ascertain if governments in post-independence Ireland were hostile or amenable to the continuing presence of Big Houses in the Irish countryside. It will analyse the attitudes of various government departments towards them and their preservation 1 Terence Dooley, The decline of the big house in Ireland: a study of Irish landed families, 1860–1960 (Dublin, 2001), p. 9; The term was also used by Olwen Purdue in The big house in the north of Ireland: land, power and social elites, 1878–1960 (Dublin, 2009). 2 Dooley, The decline of the big house, p. 9. 3 Ibid. 1 or destruction and assess to what extent various departments were interested, concerned or even had a mandate to act in relation to these houses. The main protagonists – governments, ministers and civil servants – who attempted to address this issue, whether sympathetically or antagonistically, will also be identified and their role in the decline and/or survival of Big Houses in independent Ireland examined. The central research questions of this thesis will include: What were the attitudes of governments in power to the country house in independent Ireland? Did different governments and ministers have different attitudes? Were politicians concerned about these houses and was this reflected in the rhetoric used during Oireachtas debates on these houses or realised through legislation? What were public perceptions? The fledgling state was trying to settle a civil war and establish secure economic footing on which to build the new state, so did the private home that was the Big House even feature among the issues they were trying to address? Historiography on the subject has ascribed a shift in attitudes from the early 1970s with accession to the European Economic Community and increasing pressure on the Irish government to align their policies with European heritage protections.4 What happened in terms of the evolution of attitudes from 1922 to 1970? Did they remain static in some respects or was the shift in attitudes gradual or otherwise, and what caused this change? Was this evolution in attitudes reflected in the media, and in political and governments’ attitudes? And if it was a comprehensive shift in attitudes, did this ever evolve into legislation or active moves toward the preservation of these houses? Or did attitudes, antagonistic or positive, ever translate into acts or policy which affected the survival or destruction of the house? Who had the most influential position in relation to the Big House: the Department of the 4 Most particularly Dooley’s ‘National patrimony and political perceptions of the Irish country house in post- independence Ireland’, in idem (ed.) Ireland’s polemical past: views of Irish history in honour of R. V. Comerford (Dublin, 2010), pp 192–212. 2 Taoiseach, the Department of Finance, or state bodies such as the Office of Public Works (O.P.W.), the Land Commission, or individual ministers or officials? Government files from the Departments of the Taoiseach, Finance, and the O.P.W.