Women and the Country House in Ireland and Britain - Terence Dooley, Maeve O'Riordan & Christopher Ridgway

This volume of essays examines the lives of women in country houses in Ireland and Britain from the seventeenth century to the twentieth century.

The women featuring in these essays were all agents in their own destinies, taking charge of their lives (as much as was possible within a repressive society), as well as influencing the lives of others. They were committed to organizing households, supervising architects and builders, raising families, mobilizing political support, acquiring culinary expertise, assisting husbands or sons, writing fiction, travelling overseas, and, in one instance, undoing a late husband’s work.