Ceremonial living in the third millennium BC: excavations at Ringlemere Site M1, Kent, 2002-2006

Abstract

with the smaller gentry houses that were reviewed by Stephen Hague (The Gentleman’s House in the British Atlantic World 1680–1780, 2015), perhaps too recent to have been noted, but also reinforcing the notion that in looking at Ireland we are looking at just one part of a wider British colonial world. Having drawn on so many sources, this is a study rich in anecdotes providing many insights into the private behaviour of Ireland’s wealthy and powerful. Occasionally these raise questions for the interested archaeologist. Where for instance was the source of the Roman mosaic pavement transported back from the grand tour to be relaid by Sir Charles Coote in his entrance hall at Ballyfin, and what was the methodology used to relay the pavement ? There is inevitably much more of interest to the post-medievalist: ceramics are touched on at many points, together with a very useful discussion of the tea ceremony (p. 145–6). In one relevant document the author writes that ‘china is not listed, nor is the equipage that that accompanied the serving of tea’. Throughout this study the reader may ponder on the huge gaps in wealth evident in Georgian Ireland, which must have still remained so evident on the eve of the Great Famine, and on how many of the houses discussed in this book can still be seen today. I would conclude that since so many of the houses discussed here do survive, the purchase of this book would provide a very useful companion to the serious traveller. Tempted to discover the fate of many of the most frequently mentioned houses, the reader will rapidly find that many of these have become luxury hotels, the most significant exception being Leinster House in Dublin which now houses the Oireachtas, the parliament of Ireland. Castletown, Carton, Ballyfin and Castle Durrow (where I personally have enjoyed dining) can all be visited as places at which to stay, dine or have tea. Stradbally, superbly documented by Pole Cosby’s autobiographical account and by the unattributed paintings of its forecourts and planned landscape (p. 12–13) appears to be accessible only as a venue for rural events.