Destruction of country houses in the Irish revolutionary period

The destruction of country houses in Ireland was a phenomenon of the Irish revolutionary period (1919–1923), which saw approximately 275 country houses deliberately burned down, blown up, or otherwise destroyed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

The vast majority of the houses, known in Ireland as Big Houses, belonged to the Anglo-Irish aristocracy of the Protestant Ascendancy, although the houses of some Roman Catholic unionists and/or suspected informers were also targeted. Although the practice by the IRA of destroying country houses began in the Irish War of Independence, most of the buildings were destroyed during the Irish Civil War (1922–23). Today, most of the targeted buildings are in ruins or have been demolished. Some were restored by their owners, albeit often smaller in size, or were later rebuilt and are now used for other purposes.

By the start of the Irish revolutionary period in 1919, the Big House had become symbolic of the perceived or actual dominance of the Anglo-Irish class in Ireland at the expense of the native Roman Catholic population, particularly in the south of Ireland.

The Anglo-Irish, as a class, were generally opposed to the notions of Irish independence and held key positions in the British administration of Ireland. The Irish nationalist narrative maintained that the land of Irishmen had been illegally stolen from them by the landowning aristocracy, who had mostly arrived in Ireland as Protestant settlers of The Crown during the late 16th and 17th centuries. The Irish Big House was at the administrative centre of the estates of the landowners, as well as being the family seat from which the Anglo-Irish exerted their political control over the island.

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