Thirty seven of the houses destroyed were those of Free-state Senators, of whom about 20 were old landed families. However, the campaign against the senators is only a partial explanation of the burnings. Most of the landed class were not senators and some were social reformers (even nationalists of a sort).
A Free State Army report of 21 January 1923 states, “with depleted numbers, lack of resources and unified control and almost complete ineffectiveness from a military standpoint, their [Anti-Treaty IRA] policy of military action is slowly changing to one of sheer destruction and obstruction of the civil government.”
READ
The Big House and the Irish Revolution
Destruction of Irish country houses (1919–1923)
SEE
Ballydonnellan Castle (Galway)
