The period 1850 to 1950 in Ireland saw many political, economic and social changes.

The most significant was the struggle for and achievement of independence from Britain. At the same time Irish tenant farmers struggled to become owners of the land they worked.

This exhibition provides historical context, emphasising the immediate post-Famine period, the Land War, the Land League and Home Rule agitation of the late 19th Century, and the final resolution of the land question in post-independent Ireland.

Between 1850 and 1950 the people living in rural Ireland participated in great political movements and saw sweeping social changes. These events directly affected their own lives and their relationship to the land.