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chieftains, Anglo-Norman invaders, and English and Scottish colonists. Landlords derived most of their wealth from rents until the Land Acts in the early twentieth century that enforced the sale of estate lands to their tenants. There were, however, other sources of income, as some had—or previously had had—careers in politics, the armed services, or industry. Nevertheless, despite these differences, they all became known as the Anglo-Irish and had one thing in common: a desire for status and independence.
This work uniquely demonstrates the importance of technology in supporting the big house in Ireland. It examines the use of technology by landowners in their houses, on their estates, and in Ireland beyond their demesne walls during the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century. This period includes three distinctive yet overlapping eras in the progress of big house technology. The first period is from the industrial revolution in England in the last half of the eighteenth century until the beginning of the railway age in Ireland in 1834, the second, from then until the end of the “golden age” of landlordism in the 1870s, and the third and last era, from the end of the nineteenth century, with the Land Acts, until just before the Second World War.
In the context of this study, technology is the application of human knowledge to practical requirements; thus, big house technology manifested itself in many forms and with widely varying degrees of sophistication. This combination of know-how and machinery assisted in the establishment of the big house way of life—that of independence and status. The former required the supply of fundamental necessities such as water, food, heating, and lighting. Having these available brought an independence from the outside world that amounted to almost total self-sufficiency. The latter—that of status—was built up by the provision of luxuries, such as exotic fruits and flowers, vegetables and fruit out of season, and supplies of ice in summer. A further boost to status was attained by some big house owners who applied technology to agricultural improvements and to projects beyond their estates.
This independence and status essentially developed during the first half of the nineteenth century in an Ireland that had poor roads and