Abandoned Mansions of Ireland II: More Portraits of Forgotten Stately Homes: No. II (Abandoned Ireland)

Following the success of Abandoned Mansions of Ireland, Tarquin Blake documents the crumbling ruins of more forgotten stately homes, such as Elsinore House in County Sligo, where a childhood ghostly encounter inspired a lifelong fascination with the paranormal in W. B. Yeats. The Great Famine triggered a change of fortune for Ireland's landlords: starving, penniless tenants could no longer pay rent and the landowners luxurious lifestyles went into decline. Later, the Land Acts transferred land into the ownership of tenant farmers and, with their rental income removed, many landlords locked up and left, never to return. Others frittered away the family fortune trying to maintain a luxurious lifestyle. During the War of Independence and Civil War, country houses became a target for the IRA and many were burned. For the remainder of the twentieth century, the increasing expense of maintenance made these opulent houses unviable and hundreds fell into hopeless dereliction. Beautiful, haunting images accompany the histories of the houses and their occupants, to tell a fascinating story of troubled times and private hardships.