Search for a family name or house name
Scattered around the area of Blackrock, Stillorgan, Kilmacud, Drummartin, Dundrum and Roebuck are over 100 'Grand Houses' - a reminder of Ireland’s colonial past. There were at one time over 300 'Grand Houses' in the area while many of these have been taken over by religious orders most have been demolished to make way for housing estates and the story of their former owners has gone untold for decades.
In the 19th century, when the great famine struck, the starving tenants could not afford to pay their rent. This was the beginning of the end for the ‘Grand Houses’, incomes declined and landowners locked up, and left the country. The Land Wars began in the 1870's, when the first Irish Land Act was brought in and during the War of Independence and Civil War some of these houses became targets of the Irish Republican Army, but the biggest threat has always been the property developer and 2016-2022 has seen a renewed interest in the area by same.
The aim of this volunteer project is to record these 'Grand Houses', both those that have been demolished and those that are still extant and tell the story of the families that lived in them before they all disappear.
We hope to find photographs/descriptions of the buildings and provide a simple family tree for each of the families. We also hope that on this journey we will uncover the hidden people* - the gardeners, the coachmen, the nursemaids, the staff that made these houses run smoothly.
The contributors are:-
June Bow, Catherine Brugha, Mairead Byrne, Michael Fitzgerald, Bríd Nolan, Ross Nolan, Karen Poff & Des Smyth
A map of the houses covered is provided with the much appreciated help and input of Brian Hollinshead.
OpenStreetMap of Grand Houses
Map data copyrighted OpenStreetMap contributors
* The villagers of Stillorgan 1901. The Villagers of Stillorgan 1911
In the 19th century, when the great famine struck, the starving tenants could not afford to pay their rent. This was the beginning of the end for the ‘Grand Houses’, incomes declined and landowners locked up, and left the country. The Land Wars began in the 1870's, when the first Irish Land Act was brought in and during the War of Independence and Civil War some of these houses became targets of the Irish Republican Army, but the biggest threat has always been the property developer and 2016-2022 has seen a renewed interest in the area by same.
The aim of this volunteer project is to record these 'Grand Houses', both those that have been demolished and those that are still extant and tell the story of the families that lived in them before they all disappear.
We hope to find photographs/descriptions of the buildings and provide a simple family tree for each of the families. We also hope that on this journey we will uncover the hidden people* - the gardeners, the coachmen, the nursemaids, the staff that made these houses run smoothly.
The contributors are:-
June Bow, Catherine Brugha, Mairead Byrne, Michael Fitzgerald, Bríd Nolan, Ross Nolan, Karen Poff & Des Smyth
A map of the houses covered is provided with the much appreciated help and input of Brian Hollinshead.
OpenStreetMap of Grand Houses
Map data copyrighted OpenStreetMap contributors
* The villagers of Stillorgan 1901. The Villagers of Stillorgan 1911