An audio collection of over 100 interviews with owners of great Irish houses was launched this week at the National Library
The recordings form part of the Irish Life & Lore series and will be available at the National Library and other libraries countrywide.
The interviews were recorded by historians Maurice and Jane O’Keeffe, who spent three years working on the project.
The interviews feature family histories, stories and anecdotes about daily life in the Great Houses of Ireland.
According to Maurice and Jane O’Keeffe, Irish history, as it was taught in our schools, was essentially one-dimensional.
”The lives and experiences of Anglo-Irish families who left Ireland during the Troubles in the 1970s and 1980s were largely ignored in the version of Irish history taught in schools.
”The testimonies of these families deserve to be heard, as they form a significant part of our shared Irish history.”
”When I was a child, the estate wall seemed like a prison wall keeping me in, not keeping other people out.” – Egerton Shelswell White, Bantry House
Listen to interview extracts:
John Cleeve, now living in East Sussex, speaks about his grandfather
Knappogue Castle in Co Clare was the property of the Dunboynes. Lord Dunboyne, the 29th Earl, speaks about his father when he was a child being brought up in the castle
Charles Stanhope, now the 12th Earl of Harrington, speaks about being Anglo Irish and what that means The Lovell family in West Cork speak about what their parents told them about the 1916-22 troubles in Ireland Emily Villiers-Stuart speaks about the land commission
Mabel Langley, now in her 90s, tells her story
Chambre Good speaks about the burning of Cor Castle in 1921
Desmond Guinness on Leixlip Castle
The Late Desmond FitzGerald, who was the 29th Knight of Glin, spoke about whether there was any animosity by the IRA during the 1916-22 troubles
Francis Hare, 6th Baron Hare, is one of the few Irish peers to still sit in the House of Lords with an Irish title. Lord Listowel speaks about what the title meant
Sir Nicholas Somerville speaks about his great grandaunt, Edith Somerville
Dermot Edwards, now living in Lismore, speaks about the financial decline of the Godfrey Estate in Miltown, Co Kerry
Source: RTE News/Special Reports – Interviews with Owners of ‘Great Irish Houses’
