Description

The devastating impact of the Great Famine permanently re-engineered the demographic and economic fabric of rural Ireland, marked by mass evictions and social unrest. In Strokestown and the Great Irish Famine, distinguished historian Ciaran Reilly delivers a masterly, data-driven audit tracking the catastrophic events on the Mahon family’s Roscommon estate.

Reilly looks deeply into the world-famous Strokestown Park House archives, estate ledgers, and tenant petitions to evaluate the practical functional operations of relief committees, assisted emigration schemes, and the notorious assassination of Major Denis Mahon in 1847. The text systematically guides researchers past simple folklore to analyze the stark economic choices faced by both starving tenants and bankrupt landlords. This authoritative volume serves as a mandatory reference cornerstone for advanced academic history tracks, genealogists, and research libraries worldwide.

Critical research frameworks evaluated within this study:

• Estate Operational Analytics: Breaks down specific eviction counts, rent arrears data, and transatlantic shipping costs for assisted emigrants.

• Socio-Political Fracture Mapping: Examines the complex networks, secret societies, and immediate localized actions driving agrarian violence.

• Elite Archival Rigor: Meticulously annotated with original text citations, extensive tenant databases, and comprehensive bibliographic indices.