‘tales from the big House’ the Connacht District Lunatic Asylum in the late nineteenth century

Between 1810 and 1870, 22 district lunatic asylums were built in Ireland to accommodate an apparently growing population of mentally ill throughout the country, and only financial constraints, it would […]

Connemara after the Famine

In August of 1849, in London, a huge property was put up for auction: the former Martin Estate in Connemara. According to the prospectus: It is impossible for the mind […]

The Memoirs of Mrs. Leeson, Mary Lyons (ed.) (Lilliput)

Mrs. Margaret Leeson 1727-1797 was Georgian Dublin’s version of Christine Keeler or Heidi Fleiss. Her long career contained elements of both Keeler and Fleiss but, judging by her memoirs, she […]

Women, Power and Consciousness in Nineteenth Century Ireland, Mary Cullen and Maria Luddy (eds.) (Attic Press, £15.99 pb), Women in Ireland, 1800-1918: A Documentary History, Maria Luddy (Cork University Press, £40 hb, £17.50 pb) In Their Own Voice:

To be asked to review three new publications on Irish women’s history is in itself a heart-warming and encouraging experience, and a clear indication of the progress currently being made […]

Subversive law in Ireland 1879–1920: from ‘unwritten law’ to the Dáil courts

Subversive law in Ireland 1879–1920: from ‘unwritten law’ to the Dáil courts Heather Laird (Four Courts Press, E45) ISBN 1851828761 In this study the author looks at the self-help schemes […]