the use, the pace, the patient years of labour,

...

this is our country also, nowhere else;

and we shall not be outcast on the world."

John Hewitt, The Colony

For many years the Big House in Ireland was very important. In an agrarian society, the estate system formed a backdrop for the economy and culture of the island. The Anglo-Irish Big House is a historical structure that has been employed for various purposes in the literature of a variety of Irish authors. The Big House as a symbol of wealth and social status in Ireland is associated pre-eminently with the Anglo-Irish. The Big Houses of Ireland are very important to gain any understanding of the political, economic and social developments in Ireland between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries. Some historical as well as literary interpretations are very controversial...