The land war 1920-23: Up in flames — how land hunger fuelled the burning of Ireland’s ‘Big Houses’
The destruction of mansions belonging to the landed gentry is associated in the popular imagination with the revolutionary zeal of the 1920-23 era, but in many cases the setting ablaze of the ‘Big House’ was motivated by a desperate desire for land
Line of fire: Summerhill House in Co Meath was razed to the ground by the IRA in February 1921 after long-running agrarian agitation on the estate — it is considered the most architecturally significant ‘Big House’ destroyed during the 1920-23 period
Before: Moydrum Castle in Co Westmeath was the focal point of an agrarian campaign which continued after the War of Independence and the Civil War
After: the remains of Moydrum Castle
Legacy: Moore Hall in Carnacon, Co Mayo was burned by local anti-Treaty forces in February 1922. This action was especially controversial as the Moore family had, as far back as the 1798 rebellion, a notable tradition of supporting the Irish nationalist cause.
Line of fire: Summerhill House in Co Meath was razed to the ground by the IRA in February 1921 after long-running agrarian agitation on the estate — it is considered the most architecturally significant ‘Big House’ destroyed during the 1920-23 period
Historians still debate how many ‘Big Houses’ were burned across Ireland between 1920-23 as the chaos of war gripped the land.
In an account published 20 years ago, historian Terence Dooley estimated that 76 mansions were set ablaze, and twice that number destroyed during the Civil War.
The motivations for these burnings were complex. In some instances, blazes were justified on the basis that houses were or had been used as temporary barracks by the Crown forces; others were targeted because of the loyalism of their owners; others were destroyed as counter-reprisals against Black and Tan and Auxiliary actions.
In a few instances, the motivation was combination of all of these factors.
However, in a paper presented in a National Library lecture last week, Terence Dooleyfocused on a more controversial motive: land hunger.
Burnings which might have been seen as a counter-reprisal sometimes masked ulterior motives driven by local land issues because at the heart of the Irish revolution was land redistribution.
Dooley cites a host of high-profile examples to bolster his argument, including the demise of Moydrum Castle, Lord Castlemaine’s mansion in Co Westmeath. It was set alight on July 3, 1921, a week before the Anglo-Irish truce ended hostilities in the War of Independence.
On the surface, burning the castle was a reprisal for Black and Tan atrocities in the neighbourhood. However, Dooley says an examination of the evidence offers a much more complex story.
In late June, the IRA had attempted to kidnap a British officer stationed in Athlone. The plan was to hold him hostage to barter for the release of Longford IRA leader Seán MacEoin, who was in Athlone prison awaiting execution.
However, during the operation, the British officer was shot and died.
A revenge rampage by the Black and Tans in Knockcroghery, Co Roscommon saw 20 houses burned. Instead of responding by burning an equal number of houses, the local IRA commander decided that Moydrum Castle would be burned as a counter-reprisal.
According to Dooley the commander did not reveal that he and his two brothers had been actively involved in agrarian agitation in the lead-up to the burning.
Dooley says the destruction and intimidation did not end with the burning of the castle. Between August 1921 and 1924, the gatekeeper’s cottage, steward’s house and the estate office were burned, and locals drove their cattle onto the demesne and grazed them freely.
Dooley cites historian Eugene Dunne, who concluded it “appears to have been an orchestrated and systematic campaign of vandalism and intimidation to force him [Castlemaine] to leave the Athlone area”.
If so, it succeeded. In 1924, Castlemaine, now permanently resident in England, had no alternative but to sell approximately 1,000 acres of Moydrum demesne and untenanted lands to the Irish Land Commission for redistribution.
“Thus, the burning of Moydrum Castle did not merely serve as a reprisal for Black and Tan atrocities, it simultaneously ended centuries of aristocratic presence in the area and provided access to a sizeable amount of agricultural land to be divided amongst local uneconomic holders.
“An action that appeared to be driven by the national struggle may also have had local agrarian intent, in essence a micro social revolution.”
Dooley says land distribution was a key motive in the destruction of many other Big House including: Summerhill in Co Meath, the ancestral home of Barons Langford; Kilmorna House, Listowel, Co Kerry; Ravensdale Park in Co Louth; and Gola House in Monaghan.
‘Landless militants’
“Across the country there were similar episodes related to agrarianism. LP Curtis Jr in his micro-study of the Woodlawn estate in east Galway found that: ‘Into the power vacuum rushed landless militants or evicted tenants whose hunger for land took precedence over any nationalist aspirations’.”
Analysing the burning of Ballydugan House near Loughrea in Co Galway, historian Ann O’Riordan highlighted the role of agrarianism that escalated during the War of Independence, and eventually resulted in Ballydugan’s destruction during the Civil War era.
The ongoing agrarian intimidation and the history of unrest in this region combined to create the primary motive for the burning of Ballydugan House — the desire for land.
“The political chaos of the time provided the conspirators with an opportunity to secure land for themselves and their families, an opportunity they were not going to miss.”
Land War
Dooley says that rather than being directly motivated by the War of Independence and Civil War, these examples of Big House burnings reflect a new phase of Land War that began in 1917.
He says the 1903 Land Act did not, as many believe, solve the Irish land question even though most farmers owned their farms by 1922.
This is because “the most pertinent issue was not proprietorship; it was farm viability. And, therefore, Big Houses became central to redistribution.”
Legacy: Moore Hall in Carnacon, Co Mayo was burned by local anti-Treaty forces in February 1922. This action was especially controversial as the Moore family had, as far back as the 1798 rebellion, a notable tradition of supporting the Irish nationalist cause.
Legacy: Moore Hall in Carnacon, Co Mayo was burned by local anti-Treaty forces in February 1922. This action was especially controversial as the Moore family had, as far back as the 1798 rebellion, a notable tradition of supporting the Irish nationalist cause.
The Land Acts had not addressed the inequalities of the Irish land system, Dooley says, highlighting Irish Land Commission statistics.
“There were 2.6 million acres that would remain unaffected by existing land legislation, namely demesne and untenanted lands — extensive swathes of which were let on the conacre system, or 11-month system — belonging to around 1,600 landlords who had remained resident in Ireland.
“At the same time in 1917, there were 226,468 farms below 15 acres, and 112,787 below five acres, not to mention the landless.
“Thus from 1917, ‘land redistribution’ was regenerated as a political catch-cry of revolutionaries, and, for a time, played a role in transforming Sinn Féin into a mass popular movement.
“Redistribution simultaneously promised farm viability, access to lands for the landless and agricultural labourers, revenge against the colonial usurpers or the graziers, and it held out hope of a better way of life without having to leave Ireland.
“This type of rhetoric appealed to the aspirations of a young rural generation who began to consider that Irish independence might offer them a better quality of life.”
Citing the passing of the 1923 Land Act by the Free State government, Dooley argues: “The Irish revolution in all its complexities cannot be understood until the records of the Land Commission are made available.
“The impact of a Big House burning was not confined to the immediate point of destruction or to the impact it had on the family alone. Once the house and the owner were taken out of the equation, local conditions changed dramatically, as did the local landscape, and the wider community stood to benefit.”
In other words, he asks, who won out in the end in places such as Gola in north Monaghan, Summerhill in Meath, Moydrum in Westmeath, Ballydugan in east Galway, Tubberdaly in Offaly: the State or local power-brokers who decided they would divide the lands?
“Until we can find the answers, the more general case stated is that the 1923 Land Act did not just end a land war, it contributed significantly to ending a civil war,” he says.
