Great Irish Households Inventories From The Long Eighteenth Century

The usefulness of inventories in determining how houses were arranged, furnished and used is now widely recognised. Most often carried out at the time of an owner's death in order to deal with wills, inventories were also drawn up in particular contexts, for example after the destruction of Castlecomer House, Co. Kilkenny, during the 1798 Rising, in order to enable the owners to make a claim.

In this book, inventories of fourteen large Irish country houses, three Dublin mansions and a London mansion provide a remarkable insight into the lifestyle of the large Irish families and the households that supported them. The documents are astonishingly accurate, describing in detail the possessions and accessories inherited, accumulated or acquired for pleasure or daily use.