Edenderry, County Offaly, and the Downshire Estate, 1790-1800 (Maynooth Studies in Local History)

"In the history of the 1798 rising in Ireland Offaly is regarded as the forgotten county. It was not the scene of major military activity but that does not mean that it was unaffected by the disturbances that afflicted the Irish midlands in that year. This study shows that in one part of the county, around the old Quaker settlement of Edenderry, the agrarian secret societies that underlay the rising were as active as in many other parts of Ireland. In particular problems between the landlord, the marquis of Downshire, and his tenants fed social tensions produced by more general economic conditions to ensure that Edenderry would be as disturbed as many other parts of the country during the years 1795-7. Why then did these problems not translate into more open violence during 1798 itself? This study answers this crucial questions, central to understanding the history of the 1798 rising a local level."--BOOK JACKET.Ciaran Reilly is the author of 'Edenderry, County Offaly, and the Downshire Estate, 1790-1800 (Maynooth Studies in Local History)', published 2007 under ISBN 9781846820618 and ISBN 1846820618.