Transformations of the native elite in post-medieval Ireland: an archaeological perspective

Summary

Narratives of Ireland’s past are often dominated by simplistic binary oppositions between native and newcomer, English and Irish, Catholic and Protestant, which serve to disguise the social and ethnic complexity of post-medieval Irish society. Accordingly, the ‘big house’ functions, perhaps too conveniently, as the material embodiment of colonial privilege, working as a simple and stark counterpoint to the ‘thatched cottage’ of humble native tradition. This paper interrogates such divisions by exploring the built remains of wealthy native families who retained their elite status despite the transformations of early modern Ireland, or who exploited religious and political change as a means to social advancement. Many such families, as part of the landed establishment, saw no contradiction in retaining an indigenous Irish identity within a new British political order and their substantial architectural remains serve to complicate essentialist understandings of Irish national identity.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Another Brick in the Wall: Buildings and Architecture   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 621