Presents a comparative analysis of land issues and impact of reform across the British and Irish Isles, in Ireland, Scotland and Wales This book interrogates land issues and reform across the British and Irish Isles from c.1800 to 2021, with a particular focus on the period c.1830s-c.1940s. It builds on a rich body of work employing comparative approaches towards the 'Land Question' and the history of landed estates, drawing together fresh and original case studies which contextualise the historiographies of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. The contributors draw out similarities but also highlight the distinctive nature of land issues and reform programmes across the four nations of the British and Irish Isles. Key themes and issues discussed in the chapters include estate management and relationships between landowner and tenant; land reform agendas; legislative programmes and their impacts; landowner perspectives; and comparisons and contrasts between the experience of reform in the UK. Shaun Evans is Director of the Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates (ISWE) at Bangor University. Tony Mc Carthy is Visiting Fellow of the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Newcastle University. Annie Tindley is Professor of British and Irish Rural History at Newcastle University.

A stimulating rethink of contemporary land reform in Scotland from historical, legal, and socio-economic perspectives Land reform is as topical as ever in Scotland. Following the latest legislative development, the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016, there is a need for a comprehensive and comprehensible analysis of the history, developing framework and impact of Scottish land reform. Scholarly yet jargon-free, this landmark volume brings together leading researchers and commentators working in law, history and policy to analyse the past, present and future of Scottish land reform. It covers how Scotland's land is regulated, used and managed; why and how this has come to pass; and makes some suggestions as to the future of land reform. Key features: - Offers a holistic approach to land reform in Scotland; - Draws on case studies of land policies in the UK, mainland Europe and the USA to allow comparison and contextualisation of Scottish land reform with other models; - Examines the significance of right to property on the land reform process, and looks at how it is now being used as an impetus for economic and social rights reform; - Designed to suit individual academic specialisms, while still being accessible to readers across disciplines and professions. Malcolm M. Combe is a Senior Lecturer in law at the University of Strathclyde and non-practising solicitor Jayne Glass is a Land Use Policy Researcher at Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) and Honorary Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh Annie Tindley is a Senior Lecturer in modern British History at the Newcastle University

Fifty years ago, the future for country houses in Britain looked bleak. The Victoria & Albert Museum's exhibition The Destruction of the Country House, which opened in October 1974, charted the loss of over a thousand country houses in the preceding century. The makers of the exhibition warned that history could be "about to repeat itself" because of the threats besetting mansion properties, principally from higher taxation. Houses faced the prospect of having to be stripped of their collections and sold for use as offices, hotels, or hospitals, with their parks and gardens turned into golf clubs. Government might afford to save just a handful of the most significant of these places, working in tandem with charities such as the National Trust. The rest would be consigned to history. This book traces the history of country houses in Britain, from the Destruction exhibition to the present day. The wave of country house losses anticipated in 1974 never actually happened. Instead, over the next five decades Britain's country houses experienced a renaissance. Fiscal rules changed in the mid-1970s to make it easier for owners to hold on to their assets. Economic improvements in the 1980s and 1990s allowed many houses and estates to develop profitable commercial businesses. All of this was achieved only after dedicated campaigning from heritage organisations in support of the country house cause. The book argues that a new accord is needed today, to recognise and value the ongoing, if increasingly contested, contribution of country houses to British life and culture in the twenty-first century.

Adopting a microhistory approach, Fair and Unfair Trials in the British Isles, 1800-1940 provides an in-depth examination of the evolution of the modern justice system. Drawing upon criminal cases and trials from England, Scotland, and Ireland, the book examines the errors, procedural systems, and the ways in which adverse influences of social and cultural forces impacted upon individual instances of justice. The book investigates several case studies of both justice and injustice which prompted the development of forensic toxicology, the implementation of state propaganda and an increased interest in press sensationalism. One such case study considers the trial of William Sheen, who was prosecuted and later acquitted of the murder of his infant child at the Old Baily in 1827, an extraordinary miscarriage of justice that prompted outrage amongst the general public. Other case studies include trials for treason, theft, obscenity and blasphemy. Nash and Kilday root each of these cases within their relevant historical, cultural, and political contexts, highlighting changing attitudes to popular culture, public criticism, protest and activism as significant factors in the transformation of the criminal trial and the British judicial system as a whole. Drawing upon a wealth of primary sources, including legal records, newspaper articles and photographs, this book provides a unique insight into the evolution of modern criminal justice in Britain.

This book brings together leading researchers of British and Irish rural history to consider the role of the land agent, or estate manager, in the modern period. Land agents were an influential and powerful cadre of men, who managed both the day-to-day running and the overall policy direction of landed estates. As such, they occupy a controversial place in academic historiography as well as popular memory in rural Britain and Ireland. Reviled in social history narratives and fictional accounts, the land agent was one of the most powerful tools in the armoury of the British and Irish landed classes and their territorial, political and social dominance. By unpacking the nature and processes of their power, 'The Land Agent' explores who these men were and what was the wider significance of their roles, thus uncovering a neglected history of British rural society.

The gripping story of the tumultuous destruction of the Irish country house, spanning the revolutionary years of 1912 to 1923 During the Irish Revolution nearly three hundred country houses were burned to the ground. These “Big Houses” were powerful symbols of conquest, plantation, and colonial oppression, and were caught up in the struggle for independence and the conflict between the aristocracy and those demanding access to more land. Stripped of their most important artifacts, most of the houses were never rebuilt and ruins such as Summerhill stood like ghostly figures for generations to come. Terence Dooley offers a unique perspective on the Irish Revolution, exploring the struggles over land, the impact of the Great War, and why the country mansions of the landed class became such a symbolic target for republicans throughout the period. Dooley details the shockingly sudden acts of occupation and destruction—including soldiers using a Rembrandt as a dart board—and evokes the exhilaration felt by the revolutionaries at seizing these grand houses and visibly overturning the established order.

The Act of Union, coming into effect on 1 January 1801, portended the integration of Ireland into a unified, if not necessarily uniform, community. This volume treats the complexities, perspectives, methodologies and debates on the themes of the years between 1801 and 1879. Its focus is the making of the Union, the Catholic question, the age of Daniel O'Connell, the famine and its consequences, emigration and settlement in new lands, post-famine politics, religious awakenings, Fenianism, the rise of home rule politics and emergent feminism.