There is a growing fascination with Irish houses. This important pictorial record, made available for the first time by modern photographic technology, shows 25 houses and castles at the time when the original families were still in residence and their interiors and contents were intact, just before they sank into oblivion, burdened by debt and decay. The text tells the story of the families who owned these wonderful houses, their sometimes ruthless beginnings, their extravagant and often eccentric ends.