The story of a landlord who owned 23,000 acres in Gaoth Dobhair

by Kate Heaney

A FASCINATING insight into the demise of the landlord system in Ireland was published last week by former Donegal resident and journalism lecturer and editor, Roy Greenslade.

‘The Peer the Priests and the Press’ details the story of Lord George Augusta Hill who once owned 23,000 acres of West Donegal. He, like the book’s author, lived near Ramelton.

Hill is buried in Conwal Graveyard together with his two wives, who were nieces of novelist Jane Austen.

Lord Hill was the godson of a British king and the son of one of the largest landowners in Ireland and one of England’s richest men.

In 1838 he bought 23,000 acres of Gaoth Dobhair and set out to gain a reputation as a kindly landlord, despite doing away with the traditional rundale (community) system of farming. His reforms won him admiration within his own class, aided by a largely pliant press.

He was praised for investing in roads, piers and buildings, including a hotel which became the basis of an early tourism business.

In the book Greenslade describes the lengths Hill went to in his mission to ‘civilise’ tenants, including learning Irish and banning the distillation of alcohol.

It was no mean feat for a member of the Protestant Ascendancy to overcome antagonism from 3,000 Catholic tenants to all the sweeping changes he was making.

But after one reform too many, the tenants began to rebel.

They were supported by a number of local priests and also a campaigning journalist, Denis Holland.

Greenslade charts the subsequent unravelling of Hill’s reputation, which marked the beginning of the end of Irish landlordism itself.

Former Lord Mayor of Belfast Máirtín Ó Muilleoir describes the book as: “A stunning, revelatory work of reportage as Roy Greenslade turns his expert editor’s eye to an epic 19th century battle between an infamous Donegal landlord and an unsung crusading reporter. Picking sides in that scrap is easy … until you read this book.”

Breandán Mac Suibhne, author of The End of Outrage, said: “In the time of the Great Famine, people of all political stripes hailed Lord George Hill as an exemplary landlord for his ‘improvements’ in north-west Donegal.

“Yet, within a decade, priests, a journalist and the people who were his tenants exploded Hill’s reputation with a series of extraordinary allegations ultimately investigated by a select committee in Westminster. Roy Greenslade tells the story of Hill with style.”

The 256-page book is published by Beyond the Pale Books and is on sale at £16.

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