Lecture discussed Carlow's landlords and tenants from 1879 to 1960
Guest lecturer Dr Oliver Whelan recevies a presentation from Richard Codd President of Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society
CARLOW Historical and Archaeological Society (CHAS) hosted another lively and interesting talk recently, when Dr Oliver Whelan discussed the topic of ‘Landlords and tenants in Co Carlow, 1879-1960’.
The event in the Seven Oaks Hotel welcomed an enthusiastic audience to the talk, which covered the history of landlords and their tenants in Carlow from 1879, when virtually all the land in Carlow was owned by landlords to 1960, when they had entirely disappeared from the landscape.
Legendary names like MacMurrough Kavanagh of Borris, Bruen of Oak Park and Rathdonnell of Lisnavagh dominated political and social life in Carlow at this time.
After the Civil War, the Free State government set about completing the transfer of land ownership to tenants with the enactment of the – more than half of the land in Carlow was still owned by landlords at that stage.
The programme of transferring land ownership from landlords to tenants continued in Carlow, often under difficult circumstances due to the depression of the 1930s and the outbreak of World War II. The last significant lands of the Carlow landlords were acquired by the Land Commission in the 1950s following pressure exerted mainly by the Bennekerry Land Club, led by Kathleen Brady.
CHAS lectures are free and all are very welcome to attend The next CHAS lecture is by Dr Elizabeth Dawson from Carlow College, scheduled for 16 April at 8pm in the Seven Oaks Hotel. Dr Elizabeth Dawson is a medieval historian with an expertise the early medieval history of Ireland. She has lectured at University College Dublin, Queen’s University Belfast and most recently, Carlow College, St. Patrick’s.
The lecture is on St Brigid, one of the three patrons of the Irish Church and boasts a powerful position in Ireland and beyond. Focusing on some of the earliest narratives written by Irish people in the early medieval period, the lecture will consider the formation, development and success of her expansive and multifaceted biography.
