Product Description
Hardcover, published by Coolbawn Press, 2006.
The Lough Rynn estate is just outside Mohill, Co. Leitrim and the landlord there from 1839 to 1870 was the notorious Lord Leitrim. This book tells the full story for the first time and is a must for anyone interested in the social history of 19th Century Ireland.
‘Lord Leitrim was not a bad man – if he got his own way’,
The 3rd Earl of LEITRIM lives in local memory as a notorious despot who represented the worst excesses of landlordism in Ireland during the 19th century.
Drawing on various primary and secondary sources, this book describes how the Lough Rynn estate emerged from early times up to the end of the 19th century.
It focuses largely on the 3rd Earl of Leitrim including, his management of the Lough Rynn estate, his role during and after the famine and his eventual demise. In doing so, the book provides evidence to support the long-held characterisation of Lord Leitrim as a tyrannical landlord. It also unearths enough data to provide a more balanced view of a man who started with a strong determination to improve the land and the lives of those who lived on it but who ultimately destroyed and was destroyed because of his arrogance and hubris.
The story, however, is not just about one man, but rather about all the people who lived and died during an important period in Irish history.