Taylor, Lawrence J. (1985) The Priest and the Agent: Social Drama and Class Consciousness in the West of Ireland. Comparative studies in society and history, 27. pp. 696-712. ISSN 0010-4175

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Abstract

On the morning of 4 April 1877, estate agent Arthur Brooke drove his carriage up to the gate of Cashel Farm, the residence of John Magroarty in Carrick, a small market town in the mountainous hinterland of southwest Donegal. Brooke had brought sheriff McCrory along with him, but his bailiffs emerged from their nearby homes a bit more reluctantly than usual. It was clear to Brooke that tenant Magroarty would not submit mildly to the impending eviction, for, although warned of the sheriff’s intention several days earlier, he had not budged a parcel and a large crowd was gathering to witness the proceedings. Agent Brooke had never been so loath to perform his duty, for Magroarty was not the average evictee. He was the owner of several cows and was a reliable and even “improving tenant”. Most of all, however, he was the parish priest. It was Father Magroarty Brooke and his henchmen had come to toss into the streets of Carrick.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Class Consciousness; Ireland; Donegal; Irish Social Structures;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Anthropology
Item ID:	2017
Depositing User:	Professor Lawrence J. Taylor
Date Deposited:	29 Jun 2010 16:12
Journal or Publication Title:	Comparative studies in society and history
Publisher:	Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History
Refereed:	Yes
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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