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The big houses burned, 1920–1923

Between 1919 and 1923 at least 275 country houses in Ireland were burned, blown up or wrecked, most of them in the Civil War. Here are the 132 named in Wikipedia's list, in 25 counties, with what is left of each.

How many — and what the count covers

The figure of at least 275 is Terence Dooley's (The Decline of the Big House in Ireland, 2001), as cited in the Wikipedia article ↗. The article gives 76 in the War of Independence (30 in 1920, 46 in the first half of 1921) and says "it is believed that" 199 were destroyed in the Civil War. The houses named below are only those in the article's table, which Wikipedia marks as incomplete; a further 21 houses are listed there as under investigation for 1920 and are not included.

YearDooley (as cited)Named here
19203016
19214650
19228225
192311741
Total275132

Our yearly counts differ slightly from the article's own tally of its table (1920: 16, 1921: 51, 1922: 23, 1923: 41) because we count from the date in each row, drop Tynan Abbey (burned in 1981) and count the Puxley Mansion, listed twice, once. 16 entries carry a note on a dispute or detail.

War of Independence — 66
Truce and Treaty months — 5
Civil War — 57
Northern Ireland, 1922 — 4
Quick answers
How many big houses were burned in Ireland?

At least 275 country houses were burned, blown up or otherwise destroyed between 1919 and 1923, according to the Wikipedia article, citing the historian Terence Dooley (2001): 76 in the War of Independence and about 199 in the Civil War. This page lists the 132 that Wikipedia's table names individually; the list is incomplete.

Who burned the big houses?

The article attributes the destruction to the IRA: in 1920–21 often as reprisals for British burnings or to deny houses as barracks, and in the Civil War to the anti-Treaty IRA, after Liam Lynch's orders of December 1922 and January 1923 against Free State supporters, including senators. Historians differ on motive: James S. Donnelly's study of Cork found most burnings were reprisals or to deny billets, though agrarian or sectarian animosities may have played a part, and how far the violence was sectarian rather than political is still much debated. Individual cases are disputed, and the table does not name a unit for each house.

Were the burned big houses rebuilt?

Some. Of the 132 listed here, the table describes 44 as rebuilt or restored in some form, 47 as ruins and 45 as demolished (a house can fall into more than one, for instance burned, ruined, then demolished).

Sources and caveats

Every house, place, owner, date and present state is from the table "List of houses destroyed" in Wikipedia's Destruction of Irish country houses (1919–1923) ↗, read in October 2026; houses with their own article are linked, and notes come from those articles. Terence Dooley's work is used only as that article cites it. The table does not say who attacked each house; the article attributes the campaign as a whole to the IRA, and the grouping above by phase (truce of 11 July 1921; Civil War from 28 June 1922) is by date only, not a claim about which side carried out a given burning. Where a house's own article gives a different date or doubts the attribution, the note says so. Dates in the table are taken to be overnight attacks unless marked a.m. or p.m.

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