The Landed Gentry and Aristocracy of Country Wicklow - Irelands Antiques & Period Properties - November 2005
Turtle Bunbury loves writing about the aristocracy; recently, he
chronicled the great landowning families of Co Kildare in amazing
detail. Now, his next book is being printed, ready for publication in
December. The new book will be called “The Landed Gentry and Aristocracy
of County Wicklow” and it will be priced at EUR35 (direct from the
publishers, Irish Family Names, 11 Emerald Cottages, Grand Canal Street,
Dublin 4) or EUR40 through bookshops.
The new book will chronicle the lives and doings of nine of Wicklow’s
most prominent families, including the Viscounts Powerscourt and the
Earls of Meath and Wicklow. It will include many rare and fascinating
photographs.
Turtle has investigated the lives of three different Erskine Childers;
the Baltinglass man who commanded the artillery at El Alamein and the
girl who inspired Mary Shelley to write. Among the great characters who
will people the pages of this book is the 8th Earl of Wicklow, otherwise
Billy Wicklow. Well- known in artistic and literary circles in Dublin,
he frequented many of Dublin’s best known literary pubs. Billy Wicklow
was one of the great characters of Dublin, of a type no longer seen
around the city streets and hostelries. The family estate, at Shelton
Abbey, was declared bankrupt in 1951 and eventually became an open
prison.
After the Wicklow book, he’s planning a third title, Living in Sri
Lanka, which he’s doing with Irish photographer James Fennell. This is
due to be published by Thames & Hudson in Spring, 2006.