Uniformed servants on the steps at the rear of Curraghmore House.
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Lawn tennis at Bessborough House in Piltown, family functions at Mount Congreve in Kilmeaden, and otter hunting at Curraghmore in Portlaw are just some of the fascinating photographs displayed in a new national exhibition.
The lives of those who lived on these estates in the late 19th century/early 20th century form the focus of ‘Power and Privilege: Photographs of the Big House in Ireland, 1858-1922’ by the National Library of Ireland.
Offering fresh insight into how the ‘other half’ lived during an era of widespread poverty, the exhibition contains photos from the Tension, Poole, Lawrence and Glenbrook collections and a never previously exhibited.
Shakespearian theatre, cricket and dinner parties may have been far from the minds of the average Irish at the time, but such activities were the norm for the privileged occupants of Ireland’s ‘big houses.’`
The exhibition specifically focuses on six main themes: garden and landscape, employees, transport, family life, entertainment and recreation, and the arts and sciences.
Curator at the National Photographic Archive Elizabeth Kirwan (a Stradbally native), said there had been a huge response to the exhibition, stating that the photos presented a vast variety of themes.
“There are many different ways to examining the big house,” she said. “It was reviled in Ireland but also revered as many people aspired to elements of power and privilege.”
Curraghmore Estate in Portlaw, the seat of the Marquis of Waterford, features significantly in the 87-strong collection.
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