Burning the Big House: The Story of the Irish Country House in a Time of War and Revolution by Terence Dooley
In the summer of 1922 Colonel Buckley’s dinner was interrupted by an armed contingent of local IRA members. He left his meal in the dining room as they escorted him outside, where he recognized a few of his tenants’ sons among the hostile group of visitors.
“You’ve got your Rosary?” one of them asked, before reminding himself that the colonel, like his ancestors, was a Protestant. “Come on, now, to the top of the hill.”
